Protective effects of inactivated Pasteurella vaccines in specific pathogen free rabbits.

Different inactivated P. multocida vaccines were investigated for their protective capacities against experimental infection with virulent P. multocida strains in SPF rabbits. It was found that bacterins without adjuvant and bacterins combined with the adjuvants tested provoked immunity against aerosol infection with homologous strains. However, most bacterins tested caused local tissue irritation. Further work was done with oil adjuvant vaccines because lesions were less severe with this type of vaccine. Some of the multicomponent vaccines tested gave good immunity against heterologous infection, while others did not.