Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Antibody response to feline herpesvirus vaccine in adult cats
By Bergmann, Michèle et al.·Published in Journal of feline medicine and surgery·2020·Clinic of Small Animal Medicine, Germany·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Antibody response to feline herpesvirus-1 vaccination in healthy adult cats.
- Species:
- cat
Plain-English summary
A study looked at how healthy adult cats respond to the feline herpesvirus-1 (FHV-1) vaccine. Out of 110 cats vaccinated, about 41% had some level of antibodies before getting the shot, but only 8% showed a significant increase in antibody levels after vaccination. Older cats and those from breeders were more likely to have pre-existing antibodies, while domestic shorthair cats tended to respond better to the vaccine than purebred cats. This suggests that some cats may not develop strong immunity from the vaccine, even if they have been vaccinated before.
People also search for: cat herpesvirus vaccine response · feline herpes vaccination effectiveness · why is my cat not responding to vaccine
Abstract
OBJECTIVES: Vaccination against feline herpesvirus-1 (FHV-1) is recommended for all cats. However, it is unknown how adult healthy cats with different pre-vaccination antibodies respond to FHV-1 vaccination in the field. The aim of the study was to determine the prevalence of neutralising antibodies against FHV-1 in healthy adult cats and the response to FHV-1 vaccination within 28 days of vaccination. METHODS: One hundred and ten cats (⩾1 year of age) that had not received a vaccination within the past 12 months were vaccinated with a combined FHV-1 vaccine. Antibodies against FHV-1 were determined before vaccination (day 0), on day 7 and day 28 by serum neutralisation test. Uni- and multivariate statistical analyses were used to determine factors associated with the presence of pre-vaccination antibodies and response to vaccination. RESULTS: Pre-vaccination neutralising antibody titres (⩾10) were present in 40.9% of cats (45/110; 95% confidence interval [CI] 32.2-50.3); titres were generally low (range 10-640). Antibody response to vaccination (⩾four-fold titre increase) was observed in 8.3% (9/109; 95% CI 4.2-15.1). Cats ⩾2 years of age were more likely to have pre-vaccination neutralising antibodies than cats aged between 1 and 2 years (odds ratio [OR] 24.619;= 0.005). Cats from breeders were more likely to have pre-vaccination neutralising antibodies than privately owned cats (OR 7.070;= 0.007). Domestic shorthair cats were more likely to have an at least four-fold titre increase vs purebred cats (OR 11.22;= 0.027). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: Many cats have no detectable neutralising antibodies against FHV-1 despite previous vaccinations and fail to develop a ⩾four-fold titre increase after vaccination. This is likely because older cats and cats with a higher FHV-1 exposure risk are more likely to get infected with FHV-1 and thus to have FHV-1 neutralizing antibodies. Purebred cats more often fail to develop a ⩾four-fold titre increase after vaccination.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31079527/