Safety and efficacy of an inactivated Carbopol-adjuvanted goose haemorrhagic polyomavirus vaccine for domestic geese.

Haemorrhagic nephritis enteritis of the goose (HNEG) is an epizootic viral disease in domestic geese. The causal agent is a polyomavirus, namely goose haemorrhagic polyomavirus. To help control the disease, an inactivated vaccine was developed, based on viral particles produced in goose kidney cells. Viral material was quantified using real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction, inactivated with beta-propiolactone and adjuvanted with Carbopol, an acrylic acid polymer. Carbopol proved to be more immunogenic than aluminium hydroxide and was totally safe when administered to young goslings and breeders alike. Carbopol-adjuvanted vaccine induced a high serological response. Moreover, goslings hatched from vaccinated breeders were protected against viral challenge, indicating that maternally-derived neutralizing antibodies (MDA) were efficiently transferred. MDA were still detectable 15 days post-hatch. Clinical trials will be necessary to accurately evaluate a vaccine-based HNEG control strategy under field conditions.