Assessment of immunization response to canine distemper virus vaccination in puppies using a clinic-based enzyme-linked immunosorbant assay.

To study the response to vaccination, an enzyme-linked immunosorbant assay (ELISA) immunoblot method was developed and tested to assay canine distemper virus (CDV) IgG antibody in puppies and compared to a standard virus neutralization (VN) test (r2 = 0.748). Ten litters of four puppies each were used in a vaccination study. Seventy-six percent of vaccinated puppies immunized with a modified live vaccine were successfully protected against CDV at 6 weeks of age. One puppy remained seronegative after vaccination at 6 and 9 weeks of age. This is the first report of vaccination responses of puppies to CDV using an in-clinic test kit based on solid-phase immunoassay technology.