Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

The Effect Of Aging On The Immune Response To Vaccination In The Horse, Daniel H. Fermaglich

LSU Master's Theses

Vaccination programs are designed to protect an animal from infection, however, depending upon the age and health of the animal vaccination may not stimulate a protective humoral response. It is possible that, as in the human and mouse models, geriatric equines may be less responsive than their younger counterparts to current vaccination protocols. The purpose of this study was to identify an age related diminution in the primary and secondary immune responses of geriatric horses in response to vaccination. Two groups of horses were sampled. The first group consisted of an open herd of 39 privately owned horses, varying in …