Immunogenicity and Protection against Foot-and-Mouth Disease Virus in Swine Intradermally Vaccinated with a Bivalent Vaccine of Foot-and-Mouth Disease Virus Type O and A

Dong-Wan Kim; Giyoun Cho; Hyejin Kim; Gyeongmin Lee; Tae-Gwan Lim; Ho-Young Kwak; Jong-Hyeon Park; Sung-Han Park

doi:10.3390/vaccines11040815

Immunogenicity and Protection against Foot-and-Mouth Disease Virus in Swine Intradermally Vaccinated with a Bivalent Vaccine of Foot-and-Mouth Disease Virus Type O and A

Vaccines (Basel). 2023 Apr 7;11(4):815. doi: 10.3390/vaccines11040815.

Authors

Dong-Wan Kim¹, Giyoun Cho¹, Hyejin Kim¹, Gyeongmin Lee¹, Tae-Gwan Lim¹, Ho-Young Kwak¹, Jong-Hyeon Park¹, Sung-Han Park¹

Affiliation

¹ Center for Foot-and-Mouth Disease Vaccine Research, Animal and Plant Quarantine Agency, 177 Hyeoksin 8-ro, Gyeongsangbuk-do, Gimcheon-si 39660, Republic of Korea.

Abstract

Following the worst outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD), a highly contagious disease in cloven-hoofed animals caused by the FMD virus, from November 2010-April 2011, the Korean government enforced a mandatory vaccination policy. A bivalent (FMD type O and A; O + A) vaccine has been recently implemented. Although the FMD outbreak was suppressed by vaccination, the intramuscular (IM) injection presents side effects. Therefore, improving FMD vaccine quality is necessary. Here, we investigated the side effects and immune efficacy of the O + A bivalent vaccine using two different routes of administration: intradermal (ID) and IM. To compare the immune efficacy of the two inoculation routes, virus neutralization titers and structural protein (antigen) levels were measured. The protective efficacy of ID vaccines was confirmed using two viruses (FMDV O/AS/SKR/2019 and A/GP/SKR/2018) isolated in the Republic of Korea. Serological analysis revealed that both animals administered by ID and IM injections exhibited equal immune efficacy. A virus challenge test in the target animal (swine) revealed no (or extremely low) clinical symptoms. Swine in the ID injected group exhibited no side effects. In conclusion, we suggest that the ID route of vaccination is an effective alternative to the existing IM route, which is associated with more frequent side effects.

Keywords: foot-and-mouth disease; intradermal vaccination; type A; type O.

Grants and funding

This research was funded by a grant from the National Animal Disease Research Project of the Animal and Plant Quarantine Agency, Gimcheon-si, Gyeongsangbuk-do, Republic of Korea, grant number M-1543386.