RESEARCH COMMUNICATIONS OF THE 28th ECVIM-CA CONGRESS

A marked increase in incidence of acute canine leptospirosis was documented in Switzerland between 2003 and 2012 with 70% of infected dogs showing serologic evidence of infection with serogroup Australis. In 2013, a new tetravalent killed whole cell anti‐leptospiral vaccine (Nobivac® L4, MSD Animal Health) was introduced onto the Swiss market. This vaccine includes serogroups Australis and Grippotyphosa in addition to serogroups Canicola and Icterohaemorrhagiae present in the previously available bivalent vaccines (L2). It had shown excellent protection against experimental challenge of dogs with heterologous strains from the same serogroups. Aim of this retrospective longitudinal case control vaccine efficiency study was to examine whether the introduction of L4 is associated with a reduction in hospital incidence of canine leptospirosis.