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  Discussion on Vaccinations and Titers
Author Message
Member:
Mtca

Posted on Monday, Mar 6, 2006 - 11:22 am:

Dr. O,

I had my horse checked by the National Veterinary Services Lab in Ames, Iowa for titers yearly to see if their titer count is enough to not give them vaccines. Is this a "good" indicator that my horses do not need to be inoculated if the titers come back as follows:

WNile Pos>=1: 100
Equine Encephalomyelitis
Eastern Pos >=1: 100
Western Pos >=1; 100
Venezuelan negative 1: 10

Is this a good rule of thumb? I would greatly appreciate your input on this.

Linda
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Monday, Mar 6, 2006 - 7:50 pm:

Hello Linda,
Unfortunately the viral encephalomyelitis vaccine titers either do not correlate well with protection or the meaning of the titers is unknown with respect to disease prevention. Best is to follow the recommendation of our articles, particularly about life threatening diseases like these, until more is known about this.
DrO
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Friday, Mar 10, 2006 - 9:05 am:

Linda,
While re-examining this post for possible inclusion in the newsletter I became interested in why you had the titers run and what was the cost of the test.
DrO
Member:
Mtca

Posted on Friday, Mar 10, 2006 - 12:14 pm:

I ran titers because I had come across articles by DVM’s indicating some vaccines (viral) may offer lifelong immunity and that the trend of over-vaccinating may be causing more harm than good I like to use the analogy that I run ‘fecals’ to determine when and if to deworm and if titers can be used to determine when and if to vaccinate it seems the prudent thing to do. I do believe in vaccinating for diseases w/ a high mortality rate, but I am opposed to administering any substance that is not necessary. The blood was sent to the national vet lab and costs (not incl. shipping) were $24 for WNV, $26 for Eastern, Western, Venezuelan. Enceph(one test).; I did not run Flu/rhino but the cost was $26 each.

Linda
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Saturday, Mar 11, 2006 - 9:53 am:

Got it Linda, but we KNOW none of those are the horse vaccines, they are just not as good as some of the small animal vaccines.
DrO
Member:
Mtca

Posted on Sunday, Mar 12, 2006 - 2:57 pm:

Dr. O,

What are you specifically referring to when you state “but we KNOW none of those are the horse vaccines”. I am unclear what you answer means.

Linda
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Monday, Mar 13, 2006 - 8:58 am:

In states where mosquitoes are a year round problem the incidence of EEE and WEE has been reported to rise remarkably in those vaccinates who have not been boosted within the last 6 months during outbreak years.

There does not seem to be as much research on VEE. But you should not be giving this vaccine as this is not a problem in your location. Currently we know less about the WNV vaccine as we have not had epidemiological studies further than a year out, at least that I have seen. Under field conditions the vaccine appears to be about 90% effective at both 6 and 11 months post vaccination which is why we recommend just yearly vaccination at this time though vets, based on their experiences with EEE often recommend twice yearly vaccination. But it is early still for judging long term efficacy in the field of the WNV vaccine.
DrO
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