Feline Rhinotracheitis Vaccine shall be prepared from virus-bearing cell culture fluids. Only Master Seed Virus which has been established as pure, safe, and immunogenic shall be used for preparing the production seed virus for vaccine production. All serials of vaccine shall be prepared from the first through the fifth passage from the Master Seed Virus.

(a) The Master Seed Virus shall meet the applicable general requirements prescribed in §113.300.

(b) The Master Seed Virus shall be tested for chlamydial agents as prescribed in §113.43.

(c) Each lot of Master Seed Virus used for vaccine production shall be tested for immunogenicity. The selected virus dose from the lot of Master Seed Virus shall be established as follows:

(1) Thirty feline rhinotracheitis susceptible cats shall be used as test animals (20 vaccinates and 10 controls). Throat swabs shall be collected from each cat and individually tested on susceptible cell cultures for the presence of feline rhinotracheitis virus. Blood samples shall be drawn and individual serum samples tested. The cats shall be considered suitable for use if all swabs are negative for virus isolation and if all serums are negative for feline rhinotracheitis virus antibody at the 1:2 final dilution in a 50 percent plaque reduction test or other SN test of equal sensitivity.

(2) A geometric mean titer of the dried vaccine produced from the highest passage of the Master Seed Virus shall be established before the immunogenicity test is conducted. The 20 cats used as vaccinates shall be administered a predetermined quantity of vaccine virus by the method to be recommended on the label and the remaining 10 cats shall be held as controls. To confirm the dosage calculations, five replicate virus titrations shall be conducted on a sample of the vaccine virus dilution used. If two doses are used, five replicate confirming titrations shall be conducted on each dose.

(3) Twenty-one or more days after the final dose of vaccine, the vaccinates and controls shall each be challenged intranasally with a minimum of 100,000 TCID50 or plaque forming units of virulent feline rhinotracheitis virus furnished or approved by Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service and observed each day for 14 days post-challenge. The rectal temperature of each animal shall be taken and the presence of respiratory or other clinical signs of feline rhinotracheitis noted and recorded each day.

(i) If less than 8 of 10 controls show clinical signs of feline rhinotracheitis infection other than fever, the test is a No Test and may be repeated.

(ii) If a significant difference in clinical signs cannot be demonstrated between vaccinates and controls using a scoring system approved by Veterinary Services and prescribed in the Outline of Production, the Master Seed Virus is unsatisfactory.

(4) An Outline of Production change shall be made before authority for use of a new lot of Master Seed Virus shall be granted by Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.

(d) Test requirements for release. Each serial and subserial shall meet the requirements prescribed in §113.300 and in this paragraph. Final container samples of completed product shall be tested. Any serial or subserial found unsatisfactory by a prescribed test shall not be released.

(1) Safety test. The mouse safety test prescribed in §113.33(a) and the cat safety test prescribed in §113.39(b) shall be conducted.

(2) Virus titer requirements. Final container samples of completed product shall be tested for virus titer using the titration method used in paragraph (c)(2) of this section. To be eligible for release, each serial and each subserial shall have a virus titer sufficiently greater than the titer of vaccine virus used in the immunogenicity test prescribed in paragraph (c) of this section to assure that when tested at any time within the expiration period, each serial and subserial shall have a virus titer of 100.7 greater than that used in the immunogenicity test but not less than 102.5 TCID50 or plaque forming units per dose.

[44 FR 58899, Oct. 12, 1979, as amended at 48 FR 33472, July 22, 1983. Redesignated at 55 FR 35562, Aug. 31, 1990, as amended at 56 FR 66784, 66786, Dec. 26, 1991; 72 FR 72564, Dec. 21, 2007]