Development and evaluation of a live attenuated camelpox vaccine from a local field isolate of the virus.

A strain of camelpox virus (CMLV) isolated in the Sudan was attenuated by serial passage in Vero cell monolayers for use as a future vaccine strain. The safety and potency of passage 115 virus (designated Sudan CMLV/115) was tested. Camels inoculated with CMLV/115 showed no clinical disease or skin lesions, developed low-level antibodies and cell-mediated immune response and resisted challenge with virulent wild-type CMLV. Field testing of the candidate vaccine showed that the developed vaccine induces immune response and is safe for young and pregnant camels.