Research Article
Kavitha R, Krishna Jyothi Y an
Abstract
Enterotoxaemia is one of the economically important epidemic diseases of sheep caused due to the absorption of epsilon toxin released by Clostridium perfringens type D. Several factors have been cited as predisposing to the occurrence of pulpy kidney disease, with the most important including sudden dietary changes and a reduction in intestinal transit of ingested food. Two measures are emphasized as being of great importance in the prophylaxis against enterotoxemia: vaccination of all animals and adequate nutritional management. Every year vaccination of sheep is being carried out extensively in Andhra Pradesh in pre-monsoon season to prevent the disease occurrence. In the present study, to evaluate the duration of immunity after vaccination under field conditions, Indirect ELISA kits were prepared, validated and used to detect the protective antibody levels in sheep vaccinated against ET.