Vaccine combination shows cross protection
Day-old birds immunized with vaccines for Georgia (GA) and Massachusetts (Mass) serotypes of infectious bronchitis virus (IBV) were shown to be protected against four other circulating IBV variants in a recent study.
“There is a lot of good news here for poultry producers,” said Mark Jackwood, PhD, senior technical advisor at Ceva Animal Health, who presented results in a poster at the 2024 American Association of Avian Pathologists conference. (See p. 95 of the AAAP proceedings.)
“The vaccine combination we tested seems to do a really good job — not only to address the major IBV strains but also to address a number of the important variants that have been circulating.”
He added that while there are many commercially licensed vaccines available for managing IBV, rapid mutations of the virus have made it challenging for vaccine developers to keep pace with the serotypes (distinct variations) circulating in the field.