UDC 619: 615.371
DOI: 10.36871/vet.zoo.bio.202301006
Authors
Nikolay V. Pimenov,
Ekaterina A. Smirnova,
Regina F. Ivannikova,
Moscow State Academy of Veterinary Medicine and Biotechnology –
MVA by K. I. Skryabin, Moscow, Russia
Abstract
Periodic spontaneous emergence of more virulent strains of pathogens, environmental changes,
socio-economic factors, as well as an increase in the level of contacts between different
regions are the main reasons for the emergence of new infectious diseases, including zoonotic
ones. The main objective of preventive measures aimed at preventing the occurrence of diseases
that cause large financial losses to farms is to carry out mass vaccination of livestock against
relevant infections. A reasonable choice of a vaccine preparation is an important link in solving
this problem.
The use of live vaccines carries the potential risk of recombination of the vaccine strain with the
field strain, in addition, their use is not always allowed by the rules for importing products of animal
origin. As a safe alternative, subunit vaccines, which contain only specific fragments (subunits)
of the virus or bacteria capable of being recognized by the animal's immune system, are increasingly
being used in animal husbandry. Despite the biotechnological difficulties in obtaining subunit
vaccines, the relevance of the scientific direction and the great potential of this type of biological
preparations are noted.
With the advent of recombinant technologies, the creation of subunit vaccines has become more
active, but the main focus is on the production of viral vaccines. This is because bacterial subunit
vaccines are more difficult to develop because the bacterial genome is more complex, leading to a
lengthy and laborious screening process.
This article presents an analysis of literature data, scientific articles and reviews of foreign
and domestic researchers, which forms a modern idea of the prospects for the use of subunit
bacterial vaccines in the field of veterinary medicine. A brief description of the ongoing experiments
is given and an assessment of their effectiveness based on the conclusions of the
researchers is put forward.
A special place is occupied by the comparative characteristics of the technology for obtaining
viral and bacterial subunit vaccines, which makes it possible to put forward a position on further
prospects in the development of immunoprophylactic agents.
Keywords
subunit vaccine, vaccinal prophylaxis, bacterial vaccine, subunits, vaccines in aquaculture, animal husbandry
