Sequential development of humoral immunity and assessment of protection in chickens following vaccination and challenge with avian infectious bronchitis virus.

Chicks without specific maternal antibody to avian infectious bronchitis virus were vaccinated intranasally at two weeks old with a live H120 vaccine and a proportion revaccinated with a live H52 vaccine at 15 weeks. Groups of these birds were then challenged intratracheally with the Massachusetts M41 strain at varying intervals and their humoral antibody responses monitored by neutralisation and haemagglutination-inhibition tests. Protection was assessed by the presence of tracheal ciliostasis four days after challenge and was shown to correlate completely with histopathological findings and immunofluorescence microscopy. Chicks were protected by H120 alone up to 12 weeks old and, following revaccination with H52, up to between 30 and 50 weeks. The antibody responses following challenge became increasingly enhanced as the vaccinal antibody titres declined. The results are discussed in relation to previous reports and the response to vaccination against infectious bronchitis virus of chickens in commercial flocks.