Is the Leptospirosis vaccine advisable, and should it be given yearly?
Extract from www.ivis.org (International Veterinary Information Service)
Leptospira bacterins - The most important "non-core" vaccine is for leptospirosis since this infection can cause mild to severe illness and it is a zoonosis. The question could be asked why Leptospira bacterins are not included as "core" vaccines? The principal reason concerns vaccine efficacy - a high percentage of vaccinated dogs do not develop protective immunity, or they develop immunity for only a short duration of time. Until recently, bacterins contained only two serovars (L. canicola and L. icterohaemorrhagiae) and cross protection between leptospiral serovars does not occur. Furthermore, the Leptospira sp bacterins are among the more reactogenic components in multi-component vaccines. Clinically, immediate and/or chronic immune-mediated reactions have been observed and, experimentally, multiple types of immune mediated hypersensitivities have been induced with leptospiral antigens. Moreover, Leptospira bacterins do not prevent infection or shedding of the organisms in the urine, even when they reduce or eliminate the clinical signs of disease. Thus, the public health threat from organisms being shed in the environment persists. Finally, Leptospira bacterins are not considered "core vaccines" because leptospirosis is rare in many geographic regions of the USA and few or no clinical cases have occurred for many years. Very recently, new vaccines have been licensed in the USA that contain L. grippotyphosa and L. pomona. The new vaccines should provide broader immunity and, hopefully, will prevent disease caused by those serovars. However, the new vaccine containing the four serovars requires evaluation in a large number of dogs before it is known whether it will reduce the incidence of canine leptospirosis in endemic areas and if adverse reactions are worse than those caused by current products which contain only 2 serovars.
According to our recent survey on vaccination programs, approximately 30% of veterinary practices do not vaccinate for leptospirosis. The responding practitioners either didn't believe that leptospirosis was a significant problem in their area or the vaccine containing L. canicola and L. icterohaemorrhagiae serovars failed to provide protection. Also, there were concerns about adverse reactions when the current products were used. Approximately 50% of the veterinarians completing the survey must have felt leptospirosis was a significant problem since they vaccinated >75% of the dogs with the products containing L. canicola+icterohemorrhagiae. According to our survey Leptospira bacterins were used in more dogs than any of the other "non-core" vaccines except CPI.
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Extract from www.ivis.org (International Veterinary Information Service)
Leptospira bacterins - The most important "non-core" vaccine is for leptospirosis since this infection can cause mild to severe illness and it is a zoonosis. The question could be asked why Leptospira bacterins are not included as "core" vaccines? The principal reason concerns vaccine efficacy - a high percentage of vaccinated dogs do not develop protective immunity, or they develop immunity for only a short duration of time. Until recently, bacterins contained only two serovars (L. canicola and L. icterohaemorrhagiae) and cross protection between leptospiral serovars does not occur. Furthermore, the Leptospira sp bacterins are among the more reactogenic components in multi-component vaccines. Clinically, immediate and/or chronic immune-mediated reactions have been observed and, experimentally, multiple types of immune mediated hypersensitivities have been induced with leptospiral antigens. Moreover, Leptospira bacterins do not prevent infection or shedding of the organisms in the urine, even when they reduce or eliminate the clinical signs of disease. Thus, the public health threat from organisms being shed in the environment persists. Finally, Leptospira bacterins are not considered "core vaccines" because leptospirosis is rare in many geographic regions of the USA and few or no clinical cases have occurred for many years. Very recently, new vaccines have been licensed in the USA that contain L. grippotyphosa and L. pomona. The new vaccines should provide broader immunity and, hopefully, will prevent disease caused by those serovars. However, the new vaccine containing the four serovars requires evaluation in a large number of dogs before it is known whether it will reduce the incidence of canine leptospirosis in endemic areas and if adverse reactions are worse than those caused by current products which contain only 2 serovars.
According to our recent survey on vaccination programs, approximately 30% of veterinary practices do not vaccinate for leptospirosis. The responding practitioners either didn't believe that leptospirosis was a significant problem in their area or the vaccine containing L. canicola and L. icterohaemorrhagiae serovars failed to provide protection. Also, there were concerns about adverse reactions when the current products were used. Approximately 50% of the veterinarians completing the survey must have felt leptospirosis was a significant problem since they vaccinated >75% of the dogs with the products containing L. canicola+icterohemorrhagiae. According to our survey Leptospira bacterins were used in more dogs than any of the other "non-core" vaccines except CPI.
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Vets On Vaccines
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