Bovine herpes mammillitis virus or bovine herpesvirus type 2 (BHV-2) causes ulcerative lesions on the teats and udders of infected cows. Since no commercial vaccine is available for this disease, we investigated certain experimental BHV-2 vaccines against this virus in infected guinea pigs. Vaginally infected guinea pigs get severe, self-limiting vaginal infections characterized by erythema and swelling and the production of measurable vaginal virus titers. Two vaccine approaches were investigated: vaccination with wild-type (WT) virus by the subcutaneous route, and vaccination either subcutaneously or intravaginally with a thymidine kinase (TK) deficient (TK-) virus. The TK- strain was prepared by passage of BHV-2 in the presence of the potent TK-dependent antiviral agent 1-(2'-deoxy-2'-fluoro-beta-D-arabinofuranosyl)-5-methyluracil (FMAU). The antiviral activity of FMAU against the virus in plaque reduction assays changed from 0.05 to 2 microM at the same time that the TK activity of the mutant virus decrease to 7% of WT virus TK activity. Subcutaneous vaccination of guinea pigs with WT and TK- viruses did not induce vaginal infection. Primary vaginal infection (vaccination) with the TK- virus led to greatly reduced lesion severity compared to vaginal infection with the WT virus. However, the amount of vaginal virus titers recovered during these primary infections was similar for both TK- and WT viruses, indicating that both viruses had equal infecting potential. Thirty days after vaccination the animals were re-infected intravaginally with WT virus. The vaccinated animals showed dramatically reduced lesion severity and low recoverable virus titers compared to age-matched nonvaccinated animals.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)