ANTIBODY RESPONSE OF MAN TO CANINE DISTEMPER VIRUS

Abstract

Twenty-six children were vaccinated with live egg-adapted canine distemper vaccine, and 5 children received the same preparation but after the virus was inactivated by formaldehyde. No clinical reactions followed vaccination. Pre-vaccination distemper antibody titers had a geometric mean of 20, and 3 to 4 weeks later the titer had increased to a mean of 1:100. There was no difference in the antibody levels resulting from living or killed distemper vaccine. None of the 31 children developed measles complement-fixing antibody as the result of distemper vaccination. The distemper antibody levels were also measured in a 3d group of 5 children who had been inoculated 3 weeks previously with measles virus. Three of the 5 developed distemper neutralizing antibody levels comparable to that elicited in other children by distemper vaccine.