Proper Vaccine Selection Critical to Effective Disease Prevention
CANADA - Farm-Scape: Episode 2242. Farm-Scape is a Wonderworks Canada production and is distributed courtesy of Manitoba Pork Council and Sask Pork.
22 November 2006
3 minute read
Farm-Scape, Episode 2242
A technical services veterinarian with Wyeth Animal Health cautions, when selecting vaccines to protect pigs from the threat of disease, it is important to choose the ones that contain the correct strains of disease causing organisms.
Vaccines contain either modified live or killed disease causing organisms and are able to show the pig's immune system the template of what the organism looks like so that when exposure actually occurs the infection can be recognized and eradicated before it results in clinical disease.
Wyeth Animal Health technical services veterinarian Dr. Ed Doornenbal notes, in many cases, the strain of organism that will cause a particular disease will differ.
It's very important, when you're selecting a vaccine that, with your veterinarian, you pick a vaccine that is similar to the organism that's infecting your herd.
A good example of that is the Haemophilus Parasuis organism where there are 15 serotypes and you have to diagnose which one is in your herd and then select a vaccine that contains that particular organism so that the recognition template is similar to the disease in your herd. Each company has put different strains in some of their vaccines.
It doesn't apply to things like Parvovirus where the vaccines are basically the same. They've added different immuno-stimulants and they've added different combinations but, when it comes to Strep suis and PRRS and HPS, it's very important that you look at the options because, of the four HPS vaccines on the marketplace, they all contain different serotypes so your veterinarian will help you select the one from the company that provides the serotype that's similar to the one in your herd so this is very important.
The vaccines will not work if you're showing the immune system a template that is different than the disease in your herd. "
Dr. Doornenbal suggests vaccines are one management tool that contribute to the overall health of the pig. He says no matter how good the vaccines are they won't be effective
without addressing all of the other management pieces of the puzzle, good nutrition, good disinfecting and good pig handling and mixing procedures.
Staff Farmscape.Ca
