Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae serotype 5, subtypes a and b: cross protection experiments

Vaccination of pigs with a killed culture of A. pleuropneumoniae serotype 5, strain K17 (subtype a) afforded a high degree of protection against challenge with strains L20 and T928 (subtype b). The reverse experiment showed that strain L20 gave good protection against challenge with strain K17 whereas strain T928 did not afford an acceptable protection against challenge with this strain.The considerable cross immunity shown to exist between strains K17 and L20 indicates a high degree of homogeneity of the antigenic determinants of the two strains involved in induction of protective immunity and suggest that antibodies to capsular subtype specific determinants may not play a significant role in the specific defence against A. pleuropneumoniae strains belonging to serotype 5. The finding that a vaccine prepared from strain T928 did not afford an acceptable protection against challenge with strain K17 indicates a variable expression among serotype 5 strains of the antigenic determinants which induce protective immunity against A. pleuropneumoniae infection.