Advances in Infectious Bursal Disease Virus Vaccines—A Review

Infectious Bursal Disease (IBD) is an immunosuppressive viral disease caused by the Infectious Bursal Disease Virus (IBDV). It primarily affects young chickens, targeting the bursa of Fabricius, and poses significant economic threats to the poultry industry. To date, in addition to strict biosecurity measures, large-scale immunization is the optimal strategy and effective method to prevent and control IBDV infection. The emergence of new variant strains has made it more urgent to develop new vaccination strategies against IBD. Over the past few decades, many high-quality vaccines have been available on the market for the control of IBD, which can provide solid protection against the infections and diseases caused by classic IBDV to very virulent IBDV that had been continuously evolving and were endemic worldwide. However, viruses are not static. As they continue to circulate and evolve in the fields, novel antigenic variant viruses have been emerged in the last few years, and vaccines need to keep up with their pace. Collectively, this review summarizes the strategic evolution of IBDV vaccines from traditional methods to cutting-edge molecular platforms, providing promising strategies for developing the next-generation vaccines with higher safety, efficacy, and the ability to keep pace with the antigenic drift in IBDV.