(825.12) Pharmacological evaluation of a complex drug against anthrax and parasitosis of Rangifer tarandus

Poster Board Number: D12

Semen Nikolaev (A. V. Zhuravsky Institute of Agro-Biotechnologies of the Komi Science Center of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences)

Reindeer husbandry is one of the leading areas of animal husbandry in the regions of the Far North of the Russian Federation. It serves as the primary source of life and employment for the local population. The most common pathologies in reindeer are gadfly infestations and anthrax. Carrying out mass treatment and preventive measures in reindeer husbandry is a rather laborious process and is associated with high economic costs. The research aims to develop and study the possibility of using the composition of aversectins with an anthrax vaccine in reindeer husbandry. The studies were carried out in the Bolshezemelskaya tundra of the Komi Republic. The studied drug had the following composition: 10 mg of aversectin C, 10 million live spores of the attenuated capsule-free anthrax bacillus strain 55-VNIIVViM, excipients (polyethylene oxide, water) up to 1 ml. For the experiment, 3 groups of full-aged animals were formed. The first group of deer (n = 10) was injected intramuscularly with the developed composition at the rate of 1 ml of the drug per 50 kg of body weight, the second group (n = 10) received only aversesectin, the third group (n = 10) received only the anthrax vaccine. Deer were processed in September. For 14 days, the animals were measured for body temperature, pulse rate, respiration, tissue reaction at the injection site, and blood was obtained every three days for hematological and biochemical studies. The effectiveness of the prophylactic action of the investigated agent was taken into account during the planned slaughter of deer in December, by the method of counting gadfly larvae on the skins of deer of different groups, as well as by determining the titer of anthrax antibodies by the precipitation reaction of two-fold dilutions of blood serum with anthrax antigen. The clinical picture and morpho-biochemical composition of the blood of the animals treated with the test agent did not differ significantly from those of the deer of other groups.  Furthermore, a response of the body to the drug at the injection site was also not established. The average level of antibodies to the anthrax bacillus in the first group was 1: 288 ± 46, in the second 1: 56 ± 7, in the third 1: 256 ± 26. Thus, the developed composition provides for the formation of intense immunity to the pathogen. A post-mortem examination of the skins of animals treated with the study drug and native aversectin indicates that the use of the agent is 100% effective against edemagenosis of reindeer. In comparison, the use of one vaccine was characterized by 100% gadfly invasion of animals with an average intensity of 86 ± 18 larvae per animal. Thus, the developed drug shows high efficacy against edemogenosis and anthrax and makes it possible to reduce the number of veterinary manipulations during preventive treatments of reindeer.