Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Vaccinating puppies at 4 and 6 weeks to control canine parvovirus
By De Cramer, K G M et al.·Published in Veterinary microbiology·2011·Rant en Dal Animal Hospital·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Efficacy of vaccination at 4 and 6 weeks in the control of canine parvovirus.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A group of 121 puppies, including German Shepherds, Rottweilers, and Boerboels, were studied to see if vaccinating them against canine parvovirus (CPV) at 4 weeks old would help protect them better. Some puppies received the vaccine early, while others were vaccinated later. The results showed that early vaccination could help puppies develop immunity even if they still had some antibodies from their mothers. This could be especially important for puppies in environments where CPV is common, as it may help reduce their risk of infection.
People also search for: puppy parvovirus vaccine schedule · early vaccination for puppies · canine parvovirus prevention
Abstract
Seroconversion after early vaccination at four weeks against canine parvovirus (CPV) using a high antigen titre vaccine was evaluated in 121 puppies from three breeds of dogs housed in kennels representative of the private practitioner's environment. The trial included 52 German shepherd pups, 25 Rottweiler pups and 44 Boerboel pups. From each group 11, 4, and 18 puppies acted as control dogs, respectively. Depending on the different groups, puppies were vaccinated at 4, 6, 9 and 12 weeks. The experimental group differed from the control group in that they received the high titre vaccine at 4 weeks of age, whereas the control group was not vaccinated at 4 weeks. Blood was collected from all pups prior to vaccination to measure maternally derived colostral antibody. The results indicated that vaccination at 4 weeks of age in pups with high maternally derived antibody levels, results in seroconversion rates that may lead to a reduction in the window of susceptibility with respect to CPV infection. The implications of the findings with respect to dogs in heavily contaminated environments are discussed.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21111542/