Comparison of immunization methods for producing reference adenovirus antisera in horses.

Horses were immunized by a variety of inoculation procedures designed to determine the most efficient method of producing antisera to adenovirus types 25 to 31. The procedures evaluated included immunization by (i) direct intravenous (iv) injection, (ii) iv infusion, (iii) intramuscular (im) injection of virus with and without Freund's incomplete adjuvant, (iv) combined iv and im injections, and (v) combined iv infusion and im injection. The im schedule (no. 3) was superior to the others in terms of immunizing antigen and time required, and hemagglutination-inhibition (HI) and serum-neutralizing (SN) antibody levels produced. HI and SN tests performed with sera before and after heating at 56 C for 30 min showed that heat-inactivation was not necessary for tests with equine antisera.