MSD Animal Health, a division of Merck & Co, Inc, Kenilworth, NJ, USA, today announced the launch of PORCILIS® Ery+Parvo+Lepto vaccine, a new, triple-action vaccine with broad protection against three of the most significant diseases affecting swine reproductive health, which are Erysipelas, Porcine Parvovirus and Leptospirosis. The vaccine, which is the only one that offers up to 12 months of proven immunity for sows and gilts and the broadest protection against Leptospirosis, is the latest innovation in the company’s portfolio for swine vaccination.

The new, easy-to-use PORCILIS® Ery+Parvo+Lepto vaccine allows farmers and producers to effectively deliver three vaccines in a single injection simultaneously and can be used for mass vaccination and during pregnancy. It can be used as a preventative alternative against Leptospirosis and Erysipelas infections, highly contagious diseases affecting swine.

Ruud Segers, PhD, Exec. Dir. Clinical Research, Head of Global Swine Biologicals R&D, MSD Animal Health, said, “The PORCILIS® Ery+Parvo+Lepto vaccine has the broadest protection against Leptospira, offering proven protection against nine different serovars, including Bratislava and Pomona,_ias well as protection against the Tarassovi serovars. The duration of immunity after vaccination for most Leptospira is up to 12 months. Having both swine-specific adapted and non-adapted Leptospira serovars in one vaccine builds upon our legacy in developing complex vaccine combinations and highlights our ongoing commitment to the ‘Science of Healthier Animals®.’”

Vaccines play an important role in protecting animal and public health. Timely and effective vaccination reduces the incidence and severity of disease, enabling efficient production of food animals.

About Erysipelas, Parvovirosis and Leptospirosis

Erysipelas

Erysipelas is an infectious disease mostly of growing or adult swine. It may not be clinically apparent but may cause acute illness involving many animals. It could also be a chronic disease characterised by enlarged joints, lameness and endocarditis. Rhomboid skin (diamond-skin) lesions are an inconsistent feature only associated with acute cases. It is a zoonotic disease that can infect humans._ii

Parvovirosis

Porcine parvovirus (PPV) can cause reproductive failure in naïve sows. It is characterised by the occurrence of large numbers of mummified foetuses, an increase in the number of returns to oestrus, small litters, failures to farrow, decreased farrowing rate, but rarely abortion._iii

Leptospirosis

Leptospirosis is a contagious disease in swine and many other animals, as well as in humans, caused by infection with any one of a large group of Leptospira spp. serovars. Chronic infection in dams usually is apparent only as various forms of reproductive failure, including poor conception rates. Pregnant, infected animals often abort in late gestation. In many cases, foetuses are carried almost full term but may be mummified, dead or weak at birth. Although many infected neonatal pigs die within a few days, some often survive._iv