USE OF ESCHERICHIA-COLI VACCINE FOR PASSIVE PROTECTION AGAINST NEONATAL COLIBACILLOSIS IN GOATS

Pregnant goats of the Barbari and Jamunapari breeds were vaccinated with two doses of vaccine subcutaneously 40-50 and 15-20 days before parturition against the natural form of enteric colibacillosis. Kids born from non-vaccinated does had 54.2 and 58.8% diarrhoea and 31.2 and 17.6% succumbed to colibacillosis in the Barbari and Jamunapari breeds, respectively. There was low mortality in kids born out of polyvalent and single strain vaccinated does. The incidence of diarrhoea and death was also reduced substantially, when Lemasol was given along with vaccine. No death occurred in vaccinated kids when they were challenged at 12 to 15 h of age orally with a homologous culture containing 6 x 10(10) live cells/ml. However, in non-vaccinated controls, diarrhoea developed in all kids challenged and three out of four kids died within 72 h of the challenge. Serum and colostral anti-0149 titers were significantly higher (P < 0.01) in both breed groups of the vaccinated does. These observations suggested that colostral antibodies exerted a protective effect on newborn kids against the challenge Escherichia coli strain 0149K91. Vaccination of goats with single and polyvalent strain bacterin could provide sufficient immunity for preventing colibacillosis in newborn kids.