FULL PROTECTION IN MINK AGAINST MINK ENTERITIS VIRUS WITH NEW-GENERATION CANINE PARVOVIRUS VACCINES BASED ON SYNTHETIC PEPTIDE OR RECOMBINANT PROTEIN

Two recently developed vaccines-one based on synthetic peptide and one based on recombinant capsid protein-fully protected dogs against heavy experimental canine parvovirus (CPV) infection. The high sequence homology (>98%) and antigenic similarity between CPV and mink enteritis virus (MEV), feline panleukopenia virus, and raccoon parvovirus, suggest that both vaccines could protect mink, cats and raccoons against these respective host range variants. This was tested in mink and turned out to be the case. The two vaccines were fully protective and as effective as a conventional commercial vaccine based on inactivated virus. Surprisingly, this protection was obtained after only a single injection. Furthermore, the vaccinal close of 150 mu g of conjugated peptide or 3 mu g of recombinant VP2 particles per animal, are sufficiently low to be cost-effective and applicable on a large scale.