IMMUNIZING POTENTIAL OF VARIOUS STAGES OF TAENIA-OVIS EGGS INJECTED SUBCUTANEOUSLY INTO NEONATAL OR 16-WEEK-OLD LAMBS

When viable eggs of Taenia ovis were given orally to 1-week-old lambs, infection occurred only in those lambs that had been deprived of colostrum. When viable eggs were injected subcutaneously into 1-week-old lambs, no larvae developed at the injection site, and no resistance was stimulated against an oral challenge of T. ovis eggs given 11 weeks later. However, when eggs, oncospheres or developing cysticerci were subcutaneously injected into 16-week-old lambs, all grew at the injection site and stimulated a high degree of immunity to oral infection. Colostrum-derived antibodies against T. ovis apparently suppressed the immunizing potential of T. ovis eggs injected subcutaneously into neonatal lambs. © 1979.