[A new live Salmonella enteritidis vaccine for chickens--experimental evidence of its safety and efficacy].

Within the works for the registration of a new live Salmonella Enteritidis vaccine for layers, safety and efficacy of the vaccine strain were tested by experimental studies. After oral administration of the single and the tenfold dose, no incompatibility reactions were seen in day-old chicks. The laying performance and the egg weight were not affected by the vaccination of the chickens during the laying period. There was only a limited period in which the excretion of the vaccine strain and its persistency in organs were seen. Even after the threefold oral vaccination the vaccine strain could not be isolated from eggs and internal organs of slaughtered chickens. Moreover, a high safety for non-target animals (cattle, pigs) could be established. Studies with BALB/c mice proved that a cell-mediated immunity and the development of complement-fixing antibodies is induced by the vaccine. Efficacy studies in target animals were carried out by a proved dependable oral challenge system that reproduces a latent infection with marked S. Enteritidis strains and by means of the seeder-bird method. The test results demonstrate that the vaccination is capable to avert or to reduce an infection significantly.