Reduced efficacy of hemorrhagic enteritis virus vaccine in turkeys exposed to avian pneumovirus

Avian pneumovirus (APV) is an immunosuppressive respiratory pathogen of turkeys. We examined the effect of APV infection on the vaccine efficacy of hemorrhagic enteritis virus (HEV) vaccines. APV was inoculated in 2-wk-old turkeys. Two or four days later, an attenuated HEV vaccine (HEVp30) or marble spleen disease virus (MSDV) vaccine were administered. Virulent HEV challenge was given 19 days after HEV vaccination. APV exposure compromised the ability of HEVp30 and MSDV to protect turkeys against virulent HEV. The protective index values were as follows: MSDV (100%) versus APV + MSDV (0%) (P < 0.05); HEVp30 (60%) versus APV + HEVp30 (30%) (P < 0.05) (Experiment I) and HEVp30 (56%) versus APV + HEVp30 (20%) (P < 0.05) (Experiment II). These data indicated that APV reduced the efficacy of HEV vaccines in turkeys.