Bluetongue disease in dogs associated with contaminated vaccine
Akita, G.Y.; Ianconescu, M.; MacLachlan, N.J.; Osburn, B.I.
Veterinary Record 134(11): 283-284
1994
ISSN/ISBN: 0042-4900 PMID: 8197702 Document Number: 433189
In mid 1993, two sibling 4 and 5-year-old, female Australian Shepherd dogs that had been vaccinated during pregnancy with a commercial multivalent modified live canine distemper virus, adenovirus and parvovirus vaccine aborted 7 to 9 days after vaccination, and died 48 to 72 h later with signs of heart failure and respiratory distress. Histopathological examination identified pulmonary oedema and congestion possibly secondary to heart failure. A dose from the same lot of vaccine received by these dogs, a dose from a different lot of the same vaccine, and paraffin embedded spleen from one of these dogs were analysed by bluetongue virus (BTV) specific polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Both doses of vaccine and paraffin embedded spleen from the affected dog were positive for BTV by PCR, whereas paraffin embedded spleen from a normal dog was negative. The remainder of both doses of vaccine were tested by BTV isolation in sheep. Both sheep inoculated with the 2 vaccines were positive for BTV antibody by cELISA by 9 and 11 days after inoculation. BTV serotype 11 (BTV-11 vac) was isolated in embryonated chicken eggs from blood of both sheep. BTV-11 vac and the prototype BTV serotype 11 were not cytopathic for a canine kidney cell line (MDCK) but propagation of both viruses was shown by passage of the MDCK supernatants on susceptible HmL-1 (hamster lung) cells. This is the first report of BTV infection in dogs. These findings indicate that stringent screening methods for fetal bovine serum (FBS), calf serum and cell lines used for vaccine production, should now include BTV. The capacity of the vaccine contaminant, BTV-11 vac, to extend its host range dictates that screening should not be limited to canine vaccines since FBS is included as an enrichment medium for many cell culture systems used in vaccine virus propagation.