EN
The purpose of the work was to elaborate an inactivated vaccine against trichophytosis (ringworm) of breeding foxes and assess its protective value under experimental conditions. The studies were carried out on three groups of foxes which were immunized at the age of 1, 3 and 6 months. There were used two vaccines i.e. a monovalent vaccine prepared of the Trichophyton verrucosum strain No 43 and a combined one containing the strains of T. verrucosum No 43 and T. mentagrophytes var. granulosum No 58. The animals were vaccinated twice intramuscularly at intervals of 10—14 days using from 1 to 2 ml of the preparations depending upon the age of animals. The protective value of the vaccines was assayed by means of challenge employing the suspension of virulent strains of T. verrucosum and T. mentagrophytes. It was found that: 1) Foxes from 1 to 6 months old were sensitive to artificial infection with virulent strains of T. mentagrophytes and T. verrucosum; 2) After infection the signs of clinical trichophytosis appeared at the site of infection at day 10 and disappeared after 4—6 weeks depending upon the age of animals and intensiveness of changes; 3) The combined vaccine and also a monovalent vaccins (prepared from the T. verrucosum strain) elicited a high degree of protection against virulent strains of T. mentagrophytes and T. verrucosum; 4) The inactivated vaccines could be applied at the end of the 4th week of young foxes which acquired in this way a high degree of protection in the period of their highest sensitivity to ringworm.