Nobivac^® KC Questions and Answers

Active immunisation of dogs against Bordetella bronchiseptica and canine parainfluenza virus for periods of increased risk to reduce clinical signs induced by B. bronchiseptica and canine parainfluenza virus and to reduce shedding of canine parainfluenza virus.

The onset of immunity for Bordetella bronchiseptica is 72 hours after vaccination.

The onset of immunity for canine parainfluenza virus is 3 weeks after vaccination.

The duration of immunity is 1 year.

Nobivac KC requires storage in a refrigerator between 2 ^oC and 8 ^oC. Do not freeze. Protect from light.

There are no breed-specific contraindications for Nobivac KC.

Nobivac KC can be used during pregnancy.

We do not hold specific data regarding use during lactation and therefore cannot recommend this use during this period.

Do not administer in conjunction with other intranasal treatments or during antibiotic treatment.

Safety and efficacy data are available which demonstrate that this vaccine can be administered on the same day, but not mixed, with the live vaccines of the Nobivac series against canine distemper, canine contagious hepatitis caused by canine adenovirus type 1, canine parvovirus disease (based on strain 154) and respiratory disease caused by canine adenovirus type 2, where authorised, and inactivated vaccines of the Nobivac series against canine leptospirosis caused by all or some of the following serovars: L. interrogans serogroup Canicola serovar Canicola, L. interrogans serogroup Icterohaemorrhagiae serovar Copenhageni, L. interrogans serogroup Australis serovar Bratislava, and L. kirschneri serogroup Grippotyphosa serovar Dadas. 

Safety data are available which demonstrate that Nobivac KC can be administered on the same day but not mixed with the bivalent puppy vaccine of the Nobivac series that contains canine parvovirus strain 630a. Efficacy of Nobivac KC after concurrent use has not been tested. Therefore, while safety of concurrent use has been demonstrated, the veterinary surgeon should take this into account when deciding to administer the products at the same time.

No information is available on the safety and efficacy of this vaccine when used with any other veterinary medicinal product except the products mentioned above. A decision to use this vaccine before or after any other veterinary medicinal product therefore needs to be made on a case by case basis.

In case antibiotics are administered within one week after vaccination, the vaccination should be repeated after the antibiotic treatment is finished.

Dogs should be at least 3 weeks of age.

Unvaccinated dogs should receive one dose at least 3 weeks prior to the period of anticipated risk, e.g. temporary kennelling, in order to be assured of protection for both pathogens.

In order to get protection for Bordetella bronchiseptica, unvaccinated dogs should receive one dose at least 72 hours prior to the period of anticipated risk.

For Nobivac KC, the datasheet states “Immunocompromised individuals should avoid any contact with the vaccine and vaccinated dogs for up to six weeks after vaccination”

We would therefore advise against the use of live Bordetella vaccines in pets with owners known to be severely immunocompromised.

A more significant risk to these pet owners would be from field-strain Bordetella infections in their animals. Reports of Bordetella bronchiseptica infections in humans are very rare and mostly confined to severely immunosuppressed patients. This is in spite of the high prevalence of Bordetella bronchiseptica isolation/disease in domestic pets. Because it is occasionally found in such patients, the field organism is classified as a potential zoonosis and this has led to the precautionary approach noted in the datasheets for these products.

Vaccine strain Bordetella bronchiseptica is an avirulent organism and is extremely unlikely to represent a significant risk.

If in any doubt, the individual should take a copy of the datasheet or product leaflet to their GP for advice.

There is an operator warning on the data sheet for Nobivac KC saying: ‘Immunocompromised individuals should avoid any contact with the vaccine and vaccinated dogs up to 6 weeks after vaccination’. This is a standard warning applied to this type of product by the regulatory authorities and is not based upon a demonstrated record of human infection.

Bordetella bronchiseptica has been demonstrated in rare cases, as an opportunistic pathogen, in terminal cancer and AIDS patients (i.e. severely immunosuppressed patients). However, despite considerable exposure of the human population to wild type B.bronchiseptica, the virulent form of this bacterium is only rarely isolated from human beings. Woolfrey and Moody (1991) gave an extensive overview of human infections associated with B. bronchiseptica from 1911 until 1990¹. Their conclusion was that B. bronchiseptica may occasionally be encountered as a commensal or coloniser of the human respiratory tract and, rarely, as a pathogen in human disease.    

In a more recent article from The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 9 HIV patients were identified with culture confirmed B.bronchiseptica infection (Dworkin et al 1999)². Taking into account the 900,000 HIV-positives in North America and the fact that up to 50% of them own companion animals (about 38% dogs and 30% cats), disease caused by B. bronchiseptica in AIDS patients is seldom observed despite a comparable exposure to this organism as in the normal population (Greene 1998)³.  Pet ownership is therefore not an important factor in respect of human bordetellosis.

As has already been established, colonisation of human beings with field strains of B. bronchiseptica is rare and disease caused by this organism is even rarer and (almost) exclusively found in immunocompromised people. Based on the results of reversion to virulence data and safety studies in susceptible non-target species it can be concluded that potential disease in humans caused by the vaccine strain of B. bronchiseptica is even less likely.

Since B. bronchiseptica is widespread in the companion animal population (and in other domestic animals), the risk to immunocompromised individuals imposed by vaccinating 'at risk' animals with an avirulent strain of B. bronchiseptica must be balanced against the risk of their pet becoming naturally infected.

Pregnancy on its own is not considered a significant cause of immunocompromise. As vets, we are not in a position to comment on an individual person’s immune response capability, and thus we would urge any individual to take a copy of the datasheet to their GP for further assessment as required.

Bordetella bronchiseptica can be shed for up to 6 weeks and canine parainfluenza for a few days following vaccination. This shedding is of the avirulent vaccine strain and attenuated vaccine virus with a known safety profile.