New targeted vaccine could improve European pig welfare

A brand new vaccine, Hyogen, launched by global animal health company, Ceva Sante Animale will help to improve the welfare of European pigs. The vaccine, which protects against Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae, uses a unique field relevant strain and novel adjuvant that can boost innate and adaptive immunity. Respiratory diseases are still the biggest health issue for the swine industry worldwide with the associated loss of performance also having a major economic impact.

With 90 percent of swine farms worldwide affected by respiratory disease and an urgent need to preserve the future of antibiotics by reducing the previous practice of prophylactic use, the adoption of targeted, preventative health programs has become even more critical.

Hyogen provides superior protection against the respiratory infection caused by Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae bacteria. The one shot application at weaning makes it easy to administer and as a killed bacterial vaccine combined with a potent adjuvant, it confers the longest protection of up to 26 weeks, throughout the entire fattening period. Not all vaccines currently available in Europe, are able to achieve this leaving pigs vitally exposed at critical times in the growth cycle.
Ceva began extensive in-field research of a practical tool to support use of the vaccine with the launch of the Ceva Lung Program in Asia two years ago and now in Europe. Respiratory experts developed the program, which was then simplified into practical guidelines and an easy-to-use iPad and Android app, which have made it much easier to evaluate the presence and impact of the main respiratory pathogens on farms and in the slaughterhouse. As a result, it is much easier to target vaccination according to individual herd requirements.
In some European countries, investigated herds had a 100 percent infection rate of Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae, this level of infection can prolong the time to slaughter weight by 5.6 days. Following its rapid rise into the top 3 global poultry vaccine and equipment suppliers, Ceva decided to concentrate its swine research on respiratory health, an area where it felt it could have most significant benefit for producers.

MSD Animal Health announces expansion of the ZUPREVO label in EU

MSD Animal Health (known as Merck Animal Health in the United States and Canada) today announced the expansion of the ZUPREVO® (tildipirosin) label following approval from the Committee for Medicinal Products for Veterinary Use (CVMP) of the European Medicines.
The label for ZUPREVO® (tildiprosin), a broad spectrum antibiotic for the treatment of Swine Respiratory Disease (SRD) associated with Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae, Pasteurella multocida, Bordetella bronchiseptica and Haemophilus parasuis, will now include metaphylactic use which allows clinically-healthy (but presumably infected) or susceptible animals in close contact with diseased animals to be treated to reduce the risk for developing clinical disease. In addition, age restrictions have been removed, allowing ZUPREVO to now be used in piglets of all ages.
“ZUPREVO is an important tool in the fight against SRD, offering long-acting protection against four major pathogens associated with this disease with just one injection,” said Olivia Azlor, MSD Animal Health. “We are pleased to announce these new label changes, which will help veterinarians and producers extend their protection against these costly diseases by reducing the risk for disease spread, and applying earlier treatment to avoid bigger problems and losses.”
SRD often comes along with reduced feed efficiency and growth, making it a major economic concern in pig farms around the world. A number of factors can contribute to SRD, and it seldom results from only one pathogen. Strict management policies and monitoring must be implemented to control the disease and avoid spread of pathogens within herds.

LSU research developing vaccines against swine diseases

Shafiqul Chowdhury, DVM, MS, PhD, professor in the Louisiana State University (LSU) Department of Pathobiological Sciences, is developing vaccines against classical swine fever and porcine circo virus, thanks to a $350,230 grant from Ceva.
With this funding, Chowdhury’s laboratory is working to develop vaccines using a pseudorabies virus of swine (a herpes virus of swine associated with respiratory infections) as a vector to express classical swine fever and PCV2 protective antigens. The pseudorabies virus vector being used is a double-gene-deleted virus, so the vaccine virus is attenuated, does not reactivate or recur in the animal, and acts as a marker so veterinarians can distinguish vaccinated animals from infected animals.
Chowdhury’s research project supported by the Ceva funds is entitled, “Construction of a dual gene-deleted (envelope glycoprotein E and thymidine kinase TK-deleted) pseudorabies virus (PRV) expressing classical swine fever envelope protein E2 and porcine circovirus 2b (PCV2b) capsid (CAP) proteins.”
While not currently found in the United States, classical swine fever (hog cholera) exists in Europe and other countries and has a 100 percent mortality rate. Porcine circo virus-2 (PCV2) is strongly associated with the occurrence of postweaning multisystemic wasting syndrome (PMWS) and usually occurs in nursing or young pigs (from 6 weeks of age onward); it also appears to have an association with porcine respiratory disease complex (PRDC) and occasionally with reproductive failure. PCV2-associated diseases have a 70 to 80 percent mortality rates in piglets.

PEDv, TGE, porcine rotavirus vaccine developed in China

China's first domestically-developed triple vaccine for swine is now available to farmers in Heilongjiang province, according to an announcement from the Harbin Institute of Veterinary Medicine under the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences. The live vaccine protects against three common diseases afflicting hog farms across north China: porcine transmissible gastroenteritis (TGE), porcine epidemic diarrhea (PED) virus, and porcine rotavirus (G-type).
Feng Li, head of the research team that developed the vaccine, noted that the foundations of this breakthrough were laid with research dating back to the 1970s. If the vaccine is adopted widely, its economic impact on China's domestic pork industry is estimated to be a CNY30 billion (US$4.9 billion) annual boost, according to a report provided by Smart Agriculture Analytics.
According to the director of the Harbin Institute of Veterenary Medicine, Bu Zhigao, PED virus swept across north China in 2010, with mortality rates exceeding 80 percent of the piglet population under 7 days old. The disease spread across Asia and reached North America in April 2013, reaching mortality rates of near 100 percent among piglets under 10 days old. In March 2014, a U.S.-developed RNA-based vaccine hit the market, but it has not been well-received by the industry in China.

US ag secretary: PEDv vaccine will be effective

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack is confident a vaccine developed by Iowa’s Harrisvaccines will be effective in the battle against porcine epidemic diarrhea (PED) virus. The vaccine is the first one to get approval from the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) in controlling PED virus.
Speaking June 18, Vilsack said preliminary studies of the PED virus vaccine “have been promising” in controlling the virus, Reuters reported. PED virus has killed as many as 8 million pigs since it was first detected in the U.S. in May 2013.
"I don't want to say the virus will be eradicated but I think you will see we're on the other side of this," Vilsack said while speaking to agriculture industry members at the U.S. embassy in Paris.
Harrisvaccines' product became the first to win U.S. Department of Agriculture conditional approval, which means it can be sold over the counter but the company must continue to test its effectiveness. The USDA announced its approval on June 16.
"Hopefully by the end of the year we will be in a situation where we can say 'yes, folks, (the vaccine) works', start producing mass quantities of it so that farm producers around the world will not have to worry about this," Vilsack said.

BIVI: Continuing PRRS research has helped control pig virus

Significant strides have been made in controlling porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS) virus since Ingelvac PRRS MLV vaccine was introduced in 1994, but there is still a lot of work left to be done in controlling the virus. Staff members from Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica Inc. (BIVI) discussed at World Pork Expo the advancements made in battling PRRS over the past 20 years, and how BIVI continues to be active in the fight.
PRRS research efforts ongoing
One of the ways BIVI has been helping control PRRS is through the funding of both collaborative and original PRRS research. The outcome of that research, BIVI officials said, has been advancements in the areas of biosecurity, disease transmission, immune management and disease monitoring.
“BIVI has continued to support PRRS research since the release of the first MLV PRRS vaccine in 1994. Our goal is to go beyond the bottle by creating a systematic process for PRRS control,” said Dr. Edgar Diaz, senior associate director, tech marketing at BIVI.
Developing field applicable information relevant to PRRS control has been a long term goal of BIVI. “Generating tools and processes, that when applied in a systematic approach, can mitigate the consequences of PRRS has been the primary focus of our collaborative research activities” said Dr. Reid Philips, DVM, PRRS technical manager at BIVI.
Results of collaborative research activities, such as the annual BIVI Advancement in PRRS Research awards, has dramatically improved knowledge in the key areas of epidemiology, transmission, biosecurity, and immune management in both breeding herds and growing pigs.
“We now know that key objectives of a successful PRRS control program include: limiting the source of new PRRSv isolates, preventing PRRSv  introduction,  reducing area spread of the virus and implementing protocols to mitigate the consequences of infection when it occurs,” Philips said.
BIVI’s commitment to research regarding PRRS control strategies is evident; however another key area of the company’s collaborative and original research has been focused to the development of tools that allow producers to measure the success of these strategies.  “Providing producers with the tools to track the effectiveness of PRRS control strategies by measuring health and performance, transmission of the virus, and tracking PRRS outbreaks in their system is important,” said Philips.
“By constantly evaluating the impact of interventions, we have learned that maintaining uniform immunity within a population is important,” said Philips. BIVI is currently recommending a two pronged approach of breeding herd mass vaccination and growing pig vaccination.“Vaccine can be used to achieve stability in breeding herds while minimizing the time required to reach pre-break production levels,” he said. “Additionally, growing pig vaccination impacts pig health and consequently performance, along with the shedding of wild-type virus.”
Communication, coordination key to effective PRRS control
The importance of communication, coordination, and collaboration, both within and between systems, has also been shown to be vital to the success of a PRRS control programs. Due to this, BIVI continues to be strong supporters of the Area Regional Control (ARC) concept and has partnered with University of California-Davis to further develop a tool, Bioportal, to help track the genetic diversity of the virus. Additionally, BIVI continues to have a PRRSolutions team who are specifically dedicated to help producers and veterinarians control PRRS.

Harrisvaccines gets first PEDv vaccine license from USDA

Animal health company Harrisvaccines, Ames, Iowa, has been issued a conditional license from the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) for a vaccine that may aid in the control of porcine epidemic diarrhea (PED) virus in swine. This is the first licensed vaccine for PED virus.
The PED virus vaccine will be used to vaccinate sows with the intent that they build antibody, and transmit that antibody through their milk to newborn piglets, protecting them from PED virus.
APHIS licenses veterinary biologics products for use in controlling diseases of animals. Conditional licenses are issued based on full safety, purity testing, and an expectation of efficacy. Preliminary studies have been promising, and they’ve shown sufficient data to lead APHIS to believe the vaccine will be effective. The company will continue working toward completing the requirements for a full license. In the meantime, there are no restrictions on vaccine use under the conditional license.
APHIS supports and encourages the rapid development of new vaccines, particularly in emergency situations. When a company obtains a conditional license they are able to bring an important disease management tool to producers safely and quickly. Full licensing can occur subsequently while producers get the products they need to protect animal health.
PED virus, first discovered in the U.S. in May 2013, causes significant sickness in swine, affecting their growth and health, and causes high mortality in piglets.
Recently APHIS announced the availability of $26.2 million in funding to combat these diseases and issued a Federal Order requiring the reporting of new detections of PED virus and other new swine enteric coronavirus disease to APHIS or state animal health officials. The Federal Order also requires that operations reporting these viruses work with their veterinarian or USDA or State animal health officials to develop and implement a reasonable management plan to address the detected virus and prevent its spread. Plans will be based on industry-recommended best practices, and include disease monitoring through testing and biosecurity measures. These steps will help to reduce virus shed in affected animals, prevent further spread of the disease, and enable continued movement of animals for production and processing. 

Benefits for all pig herds in moving to early M. hyopneumonia vaccination

Early vaccination of pig herds against enzootic pneumonia - as young as seven days of age - is recommended by veterinary surgeon John Hayden, who is seeing the benefits of this among his clients in East Anglia.
"There's no doubt that providing early protection leads to better post-weaning health, with the pigs more able to cope with other challenges resulting in fewer faders," he said.  "Importantly, too, the need for medication is often reduced and the pigs perform better overall through to slaughter.
Vaccinating piglets early against M. hyo, which causes enzootic pneumonia, is most common among producers with indoor herds, with 20 percent of his indoor clients choosing to vaccinate at seven days and another 60 percent at 14 to 21 days.
"It tends to depend on what other vaccines they're using," he said.  "Many will opt to use both the M. hyo vaccine with another for porcine circovirus at 14 days.  Those using the M. hyo vaccine at seven days tend to follow this at 14 days with vaccines against porcine circovirus and PRRS.
Although vaccination at seven or 14 days is much less common among outdoor herds that make up the majority of his clients on the light Breckland soil, Hayden feels this would be worth considering despite some  practical difficulties.
"Although handling piglets is inevitably less easy on free-range units, there would certainly be benefits in bringing forward protection from three weeks when most are vaccinated as they are being weaned.
"This early vaccination is being done successfully where there are two people handling the piglets and using a fender system to separate the piglets as they are injected to make sure none is missed."
Hayden added that there had been more cases of enzootic pneumonia last winter, coinciding with the four months of harsh weather.
His comments come after producers were given a new option for early protection.  A revised licence for the vaccine Suvaxyn MH-One enables pig producers to vaccinate from seven days of age with a two-week onset of immunity.  This means that the vaccine can protect piglets prior to the high-risk period for M. hyo infection around weaning.   Duration of immunity extends well beyond the average UK pig slaughter age of 176 days.

Vaccine against foot-and-mouth disease developed in Spain

A vaccine against foot-and-mouth disease has been developed as a result of a collaborative project between Universiat Pompeu Fabra (UPF), the Spanish Higher Council for Scientific Research (CSIC), the Spanish National Institute for Agricultural and Food Research and Technology (INIA) and Genome España.
The vaccine, designed and produced on a pilot scale in the protein chemistry laboratory at UPF, is an innovative approach that combines multiple copies of the structural components, called epitopes, of the viruses that generate protective immunity in a single molecular platform.
The vaccine consists of peptides and is produced by chemical synthesis, which gives it several advantages compared to conventional vaccines. Although vaccination is the best preventive strategy against foot-and-mouth disease (and most infectious diseases), the conventional vaccines based on attenuated or inactivated viruses have many disadvantages. This is the reason for the interest in what are known as subunit vaccines, which include those based on peptides, such as the one described here.
Pompeu Fabra University, represented by Francesc Posas, the vice-rector for Science Policy, signed an exclusivity agreement on October 7 with Virbac, a French multinational company that is a leader in the animal health sector, to market a technology developed in the Department of Experimental and Health Sciences (CEXS). It is a veterinary vaccine for the prevention of foot-and-mouth disease, the most economically devastating animal disease worldwide.
In this context, the exclusivity agreement with Virbac includes the production, evaluation and eventual marketing of the vaccine in the People's Republic of China, where the market for these vaccines amounts to more than US$200 million a year for the pig sector alone.

UK pig producers encouraged to vaccinate against H1N1 strains

Most veterinarians agree that swine influenza or H1N1 is an increasing problem for pig producers, according to a survey recently conducted by Merial Animal Health. Only 8 percent of those interviewed said that in their experience the number of cases of swine influenza had stayed the same over the last five years, while 92 percent agreed that it had increased.
Views varied on the exact reasons for this apparent increase. These included better diagnostics, and increased reporting by pig producers. However, a number pointed at specific recent outbreaks which have driven the increase.
Most of those questioned - 60 percent - agreed that vaccination against swine influenza makes good economic sense. This was borne out by the number agreeing or agreeing strongly that the UK industry should take swine influenza more seriously, which amounted to 77 percent of the sample.
Nick Munce, Merial's Pig Business & Technical Manager said: "This survey demonstrates that the majority of veterinarians recognize the economic benefits of vaccination against swine influenza."
Some 77 percent of those interviewed agreed that swine influenza is a production disease that can affect reproduction, average daily weight gain and feed conversion ratios. In terms of controlling the disease biosecurity and a variety of vaccination strategies featured on most vets' lists.
Vets were asked to estimate the current prevalence of swine influenza in the English national herd and the average figure was around 44 percent. Research published in 2010 showed that 59 per cent of the 146 farms surveyed had at least one pig positive for the H1N1, H1N2 or H3N2 influenza viruses¹.
Gripovac 3 is currently the only swine influenza vaccine licensed for the UK. It provides protection against the most common influenza strains - H3N2, H1N1 and H1N2.

¹ Towards risk-based surveillance for swine influenza virus. Barbara Wieland*, Alexander Mastin*, Dirk U. Pfeiffer*, The COSI Consortium**
*Royal Veterinary College, Hatfi eld,
**Combating Swine Influenza Initiative Consortium, Cambridge, UK. 21st International Pig Veterinary Society congress, Vancouver, Canada, 2010.

Harrisvaccines earns grant for swine disease research

Ames, Iowa-based vaccine producer Harrisvaccines announced it has been awarded a grant from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) for Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome Virus (PRRSV) research. This project is supported by Agriculture and Food Research Initiative Grant no. 2013-67015-21307 from the NIFA.
The grant, titled Proteomics-defined Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome Virus Immunoproteome, will be a two-year project, beginning on October 1, 2013. Dr. Mark Mogler, Head of Research for Harrisvaccines, and Dr. Kurt Kamrud collaborated in achieving the grant with Dr. Manohar John of PathoVacs. Dr. Mogler will be serving as Project Director.
The basic research project will focus on a new way of looking for protective determinants of the PRRS virus. Harrisvaccines will be generating protein fragment libraries of PRRSV strains and the PRRSV protein fragment libraries will be screened using innovative technology developed by their collaborator on the project, Dr. John.
"Dr. John has a novel technology that allows him to screen thousands of antigens at a time," said Dr. Mogler. "This will be very beneficial, because rather than looking at only one antigen at a time, we will be able to look at tens of thousands simultaneously."
During the first year of the project, Harrisvaccines will be generating the fragments and creating fragment libraries for screening; screening will also be done during the first year. The second year of the project will mainly consist of data analysis and confirmatory testing.
At the end of the two years, Dr. Mogler is confident that Harrisvaccines will be able to characterize the immune response to PRRSV proteins by identifying reactive sites that otherwise, would not have been found.
"Ideally we would find a sequence, or a set of sequences, that are found across all PRRSV strains. We could then use these to make a more effective PRRSV vaccine," Dr. Mogler explained.

USDA details keeping pigs healthy in video blog

USDA researchers are working to find pig vaccines to help them resist deadly and costly diseases according to its latest video blog. Even though modern pork producers are trying to raise pigs in a bio-secure environment viruses and bacteria still find a way to infect healthy herds, according to Dr. Joan Lunney, Research Scientist, USDA ARS.
"Viruses and bacteria can come in on trucks, on your shoes and they can come in with a new shipment of pigs that come from a growing out facility," comments Dr. Lunney. "And so we always have to worry about when that virus comes in; what do we do about it.
The USDA is looking to make pigs immune to diseases leading to healthier animals that can get to market sooner.
"To be able to design more effective vaccines, to identify pigs that are healthier, that respond to stress appropriately, that have a better well-being," says Dr. Lunney. "To able to know what their immune response is, and to ask whether genetically some of them may be better responders to vaccines, we call them vaccine-ready pigs.
"For pig breeders and producers, they well know that once you have a disease, many times you have production losses, and with PRRS we know there's a $642 million production loss per year in the United States alone," she says. 

Animal health meeting to focus on swine vaccines

The United States Animal Health Association and American Association of Veterinary Laboratory Diagnosticians have plans underway for their 2013 joint annual meeting, scheduled for October 17-23, 2013 in San Diego, Calif. This year's joint plenary session on Monday, October 21 will feature, "Vaccines: 100 Years of Virus-Serum-Toxin Act and Beyond." The session will provide a historical look at the Virus Serum Toxin over the years, including key disease impacts and economics in the swine industry, as well as address current vaccine technology and what the future may hold.
"The 2013 United States Animal Health Association/American Association of Veterinary Laboratory Diagnosticians Plenary Session should provide a very comprehensive look at a very important tool for animal health -- vaccines," said Dr. Steve Crawford, U.S. Animal Health Association program chair and New Hampshire State veterinarian. "Our goal is to celebrate the 100-year anniversary of the Virus-Serum-Toxin Act, take a look at lessons learned over that time and how that will shape the future."
Crawford co-chairs the program with Dr. Catherine Barr, American Association of Veterinary Laboratory Diagnosticians Program Chair and quality assurance and safety manager with the Texas A&M Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory. The two collaborated with colleagues, both in the U.S. and internationally, to develop the program. They have tapped Dr. Ron DeHaven, executive vice president of American Association of Veterinary Laboratory Diagnosticians, to moderate the session, which includes the following presentations:

• Hog cholera: The need for Virus-Serum-Toxin Act 
  • Dr. Rick Hill, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, Veterinary Services
  • Key concepts: History lesson, challenges, implementation
• The economics of vaccination: Why do we vaccinate?
  • Speaker TBD, International Federation of Animal Health (pending confirmation)
  • Key concepts: disease control, eradication, vaccine development considerations, vaccine deployment and administration considerations, as an alternative to depopulation
• Current technologies in vaccines
  • Bryan Charleston, Pirbright or Dave Stuart, Oxford
  • Key concepts: Use foot-and-mouth disease vaccine development as example, DIVA technology, speeding up the process, future technologies, public-private collaborations, the use of genome sequencing
• Autogenous vaccines: Isn't this why Virus-Serum-Toxin Act was established?
  • Dr. John A. Smith, Fieldale Farms
  • Key concepts: Risk/benefit, approval process, development needs, quality control, organism isolation
• Gap analysis for high-consequence diseases
  • Dr. Luis Rodriguez, USDA, Agricultural Research Service
  • Key concepts: All with a focus on vaccines, African Swine Fever analysis conducted by Agricultural Research Service; current state, new spread, global implications, technology needs and advances
• Future of vaccines: Beyond existing regulatory diseases
  • Dr. Cyril Gay, USDA, Agricultural Research Service
  • Key concepts: Potential orbivirus gap analysis underway at Agricultural Research Service, possible involvement of regulatory medicine in the future of disease control beyond our current roles, what is the next frontier and/or how do we identify it?
In addition to the plenary session, the U.S. Animal Health Association hosts 30 committee sessions on a broad range of animal health topics. The meeting also includes several opportunities to hear the latest in disease research through the American Association of Veterinary Laboratory Diagnosticians Scientific Sessions and poster displays. Registration is now available for interested attendees, with early-bird registration and membership discounts available.

European Commission approves one-shot piglet oedema vaccine

European-wide approval has been granted to Ecoporc Shiga, the first one-shot vaccine against oedema disease in piglets. The vaccine, developed and launched by IDT Biologika, provides reliable immunity against this lethal disease estimated to affect 100 million piglets per year worldwide.
“Ecoporc Shiga is now a real alternative to antibiotics and other measures to avoid the threat of outbreaks in nursery pigs,” says Dr. Andreas Becker, international marketing manager at IDT.
With the approval from the European Commission, IDT will be organizing international distribution of the new vaccine, which has already been licensed in Switzerland.
Shigatoxin-producing Escherichia coli cause oedema disease, resulting in serious economic losses to the pig industry through a high rate of mortality or depressed performance among infected pigs. In individual herds, up to 15 percent of piglets can die — often the heaviest pigs. Ecoporc Shiga induces a high level of immunity against Shigatoxin (Stx2e, also known as Verotoxin immunity Vtx2e).
Piglets are vaccinated once at four days old to provide proven immunity from weaning and through the entire critical finishing phase. Comparative field studies with Ecoporc Shiga have demonstrated a reduction in mortality due to oedema disease from 11.4 percent down to 0 percent. 

MSD Animal Health receives Europpean approval for swine vaccine

MSD Animal Health, known as Merck Animal Health in the U.S. and Canada, announced the European approval of a new indication for PANACUR AquaSol (fenbendazole 200 mg/mL) to effectively treat swine infected with Trichuris suis, a whipworm found worldwide that causes multifocal inflammation. Heavy infections often cause diarrhea and emaciation in swine.
PANACUR AquaSol is a dewormer for swine administered through drinking water that stays in suspension without re-stirring, ensuring more uniform intake and proper dosing of the field-proven anthelmintic. In a single-site, dose confirmation study conducted at a German University, PANACUR AquaSol was found to be efficacious (93 percent worm count reduction) in the treatment of swine naturally infected with T. suis when compared to an untreated control group.
“The infestation of T. suis in swine can have a significant economic impact for swine producers, if not treated quickly and effectively,” said Dr. Alex Eggen, director, MSD Animal Health. “The innovative wet-milling process for PANACUR AquaSol produces very fine particles that mix easily in water and stay suspended for 24 hours without agitation, making treatment for T. suis easy and effective and that is highly desirable for especially those producers that use outdoor production facilities.”
PANACUR AquaSol, which can be used in weaners, growers, gestating sows and boars, is also indicated for the treatment and control of infections with Ascaris suum (adult, intestinal and migrating larval stages) and Oesophagostomum spp. (adult stages). The applied dose regimen is a daily dose of 2.5 mg fenbendazole (FBZ)/kg bodyweight for 2 consecutive days for a total dose of 5 mg FBZ/kg BW. For T. suis infections, the applied dose regimen is a daily dose of 2.5 mg FBZ/kg BW for 3 consecutive days, for a total dose of 7.5 mg FBZ/kg BW.

Harrisvaccines develops H3N2v swine vaccine

Iowa-based Harrisvaccines has developed a vaccine for the H3N2 variant strain of swine flu and, using the company's patented RNA Particle technology, can produce the vaccine within four weeks without culturing the live virus.
Currently, the company has pending U.S. Department of Agriculture licensure for the technology. “We have the ability to produce a swine vaccine for the H3N2 variant strain and are prepared to work with federal officials to make it available should the situation warrant,” said D.L. Harris, DVM, Ph.D., founder and president of Harrisvaccines. “Our patented RNA Particle platform allows for rapid vaccine response to situations such as we saw in the 2009 pandemic H1N1 virus and today with the H3N2 variant strain that is crossing from pigs to humans.
"Our technology is so advanced that the USDA’s Center for Veterinary Biologics did not have a ‘box’ to put us in. Now that we have complied with all the necessary testing and paperwork, we are still waiting to be regulated and fully bring this technology to the market.”

Vaccinating all pigs against porcine circovirus could have benefits

Veterinarians and producers in the pig industry should consider vaccinating the whole herd for porcine circovirus type 2, PCV2, not just piglets, according to Merial Animal Health’s Veterinary Adviser Brian Rice.
Research was conducted in France on two groups of gilts — 165 that were not vaccinated against PCV2 and 165 that were vaccinated with Circovac1 — and a number of key measurements demonstrated the benefits of PCV2 vaccination. Return to oestrus was nearly three times as likely among the non-vaccinated gilts compared to the vaccinated ones, at 5.1 percent versus 1.8 percent. Abortions were reduced by roughly half among the vaccinated gilts, at 3.6 percent compared to 7.3 percent, and the percentage farrowing was nearly 7 percent higher among vaccinated gilts (90.5 percent against 83.9 percent).
“For sows, as well as gilts, PCV2 vaccination has a number of clear economic benefits," said Rice. "Piglets born from vaccinated sows have a higher birthweight and continue to grow quicker, resulting in fewer days to slaughter. Vaccinated sows also have a better reproductive performance. Research carried out in the UK showed that vaccinated sows produced almost one extra piglet per litter. In light of all the current evidence, vets and producers need to consider a strategy for PCV2 vaccination which takes into account the whole herd, including sows and gilts, not just piglets."

Merck Animal Health expands Netherlands vaccine plant

Merck Animal Health (formerly Intervet/Schering-Plough Animal Health) is expanding its Netherlands vaccine manufacturing unit at its Biosciences Center Boxmeer campus, which will result in a doubling of the capacity of its Tissue Culture Department, one of the departments where antigens for viral and parasitological vaccines are manufactured for international markets.
The $18 million investment, which is scheduled to be complete by early 2013, has been designed to operate with optimal efficiency and takes into account the anticipated globally growing demand for veterinary vaccines. In addition, the increase of the manufacturing capacity that will be realized anticipates for large-scale emergency production of veterinary vaccines when extensive amounts are needed within a short time period such as during outbreaks of emerging diseases.
The Tissue Culture Department Boxmeer is an EU-GMP licensed facility and produces viral and parasitological antigens that are used as active components of veterinary vaccines. The department specializes in complex biotechnological production processes that require high flexibility, using roller bottles, cell factories and other suitable cell and virus culture and purification systems. In 2010, the department produced 12 different antigens, totaling almost 300 million vaccine doses for cattle, horses, dogs, cats, fish and swine.

European Porcine Circovirus Research Award sees record number of applicants

The European PCV2 (Porcine Circovirus) Research Award, sponsored annually by Boehringer Ingelheim, received a record number of applicants for the 2010 award year.
Thirteen researchers from 10 different countries applied for the award, which focuses on research proposals in the area of applied immunological PCV2 research. While clinical disease associated with PCV2 is not considered a major issue due to effective vaccinations, more research is needed to better understand the immunological aspects, pathogenesis and epidemiology of the disease, as well as its interactions with other potential pathogens.
Three, 25,000-euro prizes were awarded in 2010 to research projects in Belgium, Spain and Austria. Applications for 2011 may be submitted by Sept. 10, 2011.

Study: Improvac controls boar taint

A team of researchers from the China Agricultural University in Beijing has won an award for its evaluation of the performance of the boar taint vaccine Improvac (from Pfizer Animal Health) under Chinese production conditions.
The team studied the differences in feed efficiency and carcass quality between castrates and vaccinated boars raised in commercial swine units. The results were presented at the recent Asian Pig Veterinary Society Congress in Tsukuba, Japan, and earned an award from the organizing committee for Best Poster.
The study concluded the vaccine was effective in controlling boar taint and enabled the pigs to show the superior feed efficiency, reduced back fat and increased lean meat yield associated with non-castrated boars.
Pfizer has applied to the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture for a license to sell the product in China and hopes to launch in 2010.