[Anti-influenza vaccination in animals].

Abstract

Until recently, Influenza was considered as a veterinary problem in avian, swine and horse only. New influenza strains able to infect and cause a disease in dogs and cats emerged these last six years. The most widely used influenza veterinary vaccines are the inactivated adjuvanted vaccines which are based on whole or split virus. New technologies have allowed the development of new generation vaccines including modified-live and vector vaccines. Modified-live influenza vaccines are available for horses only but they are in development in other species. Vector vaccines are already in use in chickens (replicative fowlpox vector) and in horses (non-replicative canarypox vector). These vaccines induce a rapid cellular and humoral immunity. Experimental studies have also shown that these vector vaccines are protective in other domestic species. These vector vaccines are compatible with the "DIVA" strategy which consists in differentiating infected from vaccinated animals and which allows disease eradication. The successive use of vector and inactivated vaccines (heterologous "prime-boost") induces a superior protective immunity in domestic poultry and constitutes a promising strategy for the control of H5N1 infection.