Merck Animal Health introduces new vaccine for PRRS

The total cost of productivity losses due to PRRS in the U.S. national breeding and growing-pig herds is an estimated $638 million annually.
calendar icon 24 September 2018
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Merck Animal Health has released a new vaccine that provides protection against respiratory and reproductive diseases caused by porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus in swine. The company says PRIME PAC PRRS RR will help producers protect their herds against one of the costliest diseases in the industry.

According to Merck's announcement, PRIME PAC PRRS RR has shown to be effective for the vaccination of healthy swine 3 weeks of age or older against respiratory disease caused by PRRS virus and female breeding-age swine against reproductive disease caused by PRRS. The vaccine has duration of immunity against reproductive disease for at least 20 weeks.

“PRRS is a devastating disease for both growing pigs and sows,” says Brett O’Brien, D.V.M., technical services, Merck Animal Health. “The dual protection against respiratory and reproductive disease of PRIME PAC PRRS RR is imperative to keep pigs healthy. Its convenient dosing of 1 mL makes it easy for producers to implement in their disease-prevention protocols, and safe for the animal.”

The company says PRIME PAC PRRS RR also demonstrates good cross-protection in the face of heterologous PRRSV challenge, helping to reduce infection in herds. However, when developing a PRRS virus vaccination program, O’Brien recommends working with a veterinarian to create both short-term and long-term plans.

“There are many important factors to consider, including biosecurity, animal flow and identifying high-risk entry points,” says O’Brien.

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