Comparison of the Mucosal Immune Response in Dogs Vaccinated with Either an Intranasal Avirulent Live Culture or a Subcutaneous Antigen Extract Vaccine of Bordetella bronchiseptica

Clinical Relevance

Healthy dogs with low antibody titer to Bordetella bronchiseptica were vacci-nated intranasally with an avirulent live vaccine, subcutaneously with an antigen extract vaccine, or subcutaneously and intranasally with a placebo. Intranasally vaccinated dogs developed B. bronchiseptica–specific IgA titers in nasal secre-tions that remained at high levels until the end of the study; dogs vaccinated subcutaneously with the antigen extract or placebo did not develop measurable antigen-specific IgA titers in nasal secretions. Dogs were challenged with viru-lent live B. bronchiseptica 63 days after vaccination. Intranasally vaccinated dogs had significantly lower cough scores (P ≤ .0058) and shed significantly fewer challenge organisms (P < .0001) than dogs in either of the other groups. Cough scores of subcutaneously vaccinated dogs were not significantly differ-ent from placebo-vaccinated dogs.

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