Uzal, F.A.* and Kelly, W.R.
Division of Veterinary Pathobiology, School of Veterinary Sciences, Brisbane Qld 4072, Australia

A vaccination trial was performed using twenty nine Angora goats with a commercial enterotoxaemia (pulpy kidney disease) vaccine. The animals were allocated to four groups and at the beginning of the experiment, animals in three received one dose of vaccine. Animals in two groups received a booster of the same vaccine on two ocassions after the first vaccination. The fourth group remained as an unvaccinated control. An indirect ELISA technique was used to detect Clostridium perfringens type D epsilon anti-toxin in all the sera and a wide range of individual antibody titres were found after vaccination. A great majority of the animals in three of the groups had serum antibodies below the protective level at day 98 after the beginning of the trial, and most animals in all the groups had serum antibodies below that threshold at day 128. The authors' results agree with previous reports indicating that antibody titres in goats are short lived and support the recommendation that goats must be re-vaccinated between 2 and 3 months after a first double vaccination.