Immunogenicity of an Inactivated Novel Duck Parvovirus Vaccine for Short Beak and Dwarf Syndrome in Cherry Valley Ducks

Abstract Duck short beak and dwarf syndrome (SBDS) is a viral infectious disease caused by novel duck parvovirus (NDPV). It has brought serious economic losses to the Chinese duck industry in recent years. Currently, there exists no effective vaccine against this disease. In this study, we developed an inactivated virus vaccine based on NDPV-DS15 for SBDS. Immune efficacy was evaluated in 112 ducks, which were randomly divided into vaccination, challenge control, vaccination-challenge, and blank control groups (n = 28 each). Clinical characteristics, antibodies, viral excretion, viremia, and pathological changes were monitored and analyzed. No morbidity or death was observed in the immunized ducks, which showed normal weight and good mental state. High levels of serum antibodies (OD450 nm: ~0.63) were detected in ducks immunized with inactivated vaccine at 7 days post-vaccination (dpv), and the amount of virus neutralizing antibodies increased from 1:23 to 1:28.5 from 7 dpv to 42 dpv. The anal swab, serum, and tissue viral load tests showed that vaccination could significantly inhibit the replication of NDPV in immunized ducks. Moreover, NDPV could not be isolated from the spleens of immunized or vaccination-challenged ducks. Our results show that the developed inactivated NDPV vaccine, administered in an oil emulsion adjuvant, possesses good immunogenicity and represents a potentially powerful tool for SBDS prevention and control.