HIPRA Swine Unit – PRRSControl

What type of samples or tissues can we use to check the PRRS status of my farm with RT-qPCR?

HIPRA Swine Unit — Tue, 09 May 2023 08:42:35 +0000

PRRS diagnosis provides valuable information for decision-making for the control and prevention of the disease. Consequently, new sampling methods (processing fluids and tongues) are proposed to facilitate sampling and increase PRRSV detection. The objective of this study was to analyze the evolution of RT-qPCR results and type of samples received in Diagnos (HIPRA diagnostic laboratory, Spain) from 2018 to 2021.

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Is it possible to reduce PRRS infection pressure in nurseries by piglets’ vaccination?

HIPRA Swine Unit — Mon, 06 Mar 2023 07:41:26 +0000

Publication of Lidia de Lucas et al. in the ESPHM 2022. Field evaluation of infection pressure reduction in nurseries when vaccinating piglets against PRRS in European infected farms Introduction PRRS is still the costliest disease for the global swine industry. Piglet vaccination against PRRS, has stopped being an infrequent practice, to become a common tool for controlling disease. A successful piglet vaccination strategy, adjusted to the specific needs of each farm, has proven to be a useful tool to reduce the proportion of infected animals, the duration of viremia and viral excretion, thus reducing the infection pressure in an infected farm1. The objective of this trial was to demonstrate the infection PRRS virus pressure reduction in nurseries owing to a PRRS MLV vaccine applied to piglets in endemically infected farms. Materials and Methods The study was performed on 7 European farms during 2019-2020. All farms with the nursery unit present in the same location as the sow herd, were PRRS positive. Among different measures to reinforce disease stability, a piglet vaccination program against PRRS was implemented. Piglets were intradermally vaccinated at 2-3 weeks of age with UNISTRAIN® PRRS (PRRS live vaccine of HIPRA, 0.2 ml/dose). On each farm, […]

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How does Unistrain® PRRS work in vaccinating piglets with high levels of maternal derived antibodies?

HIPRA Swine Unit — Wed, 25 Jan 2023 13:15:02 +0000

Publication of Laia Aguirre et al. in the ESPHM 2022. Intradermal and intramuscular vaccination against PRRS in piglets with modified live vaccine confer similar immune response in presence of maternally derived antibodies Introduction Maternally-derived antibodies (MDA) may protect piglets against infections during the first weeks of life. However, MDA may also interfere with vaccinations (1). The present study aimed to assess the development of the immune response against PRRSV after vaccinating piglets by either the intradermal (ID) or the intramuscular (IM) route in piglets with high MDA levels. Materials and Methods Results of vaccinating piglets Despite the presence of high MDA levels, vaccination resulted in seroconversion by 14 dpv (average S/P IM: 2.10 ID: 2.13) with high S/P values until the end of the study (average S/P IM: 2.76, ID: 2.94). Both groups developed neutralizing antibodies by 28 dpv that increased by 35 dpv (IM: 4.6±2.8 and ID: 3.9±3.4 Log2 ) (Fig.1). IFN-γ responses were detected by 21 dpv (IM: 122 and ID: 148 secreting cells/106 PBCMs) and further increased by 42 dpv (IM: 159 and ID:189 cells/106 PBCMs) (Fig. 2). Differences between groups were non-significant. Discussion and Conclusion The results of the present […]

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Combination of attenuated and killed PRRSV vaccines to enhance immunity and pig performance

HIPRA Swine Unit — Mon, 14 Nov 2022 07:32:41 +0000

Publication of Salvador Romero et al. in the IPVS 2022. Can a combined protocol with a PRRS MLV and an inactivated vaccine, SUIPRAVAC® PRRS, improve the immunity in the herd and the productive parameters of a farm? Introduction Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome Virus (PRRSV) is a global viral pathogen in pigs that causes economic losses in every country where it is present1. Currently, a first good immunization is achieved using a modified live vaccine (MLV) to control the PRRS. In the field, Thai veterinarians recommend the use of a killed vaccine (KV) in the gestation phase to boost the immunity of sows previously vaccinated with a MLV. The combination of MLV and KV has several benefits, namely an increase in neutralizing antibodies and cell-mediated immunity responses2 and a remarkable improvement in the PRRSV status in breeding herds. For several reasons, as part of the immunization strategy to generate more profit in sow herds, KV in combination with MLV has been commercially available for a long time in Thailand. However, there are limited data available regarding the impact of a KV in combination with a MLV on sows in a PRRSV-infected herd. In this study, the combination of a MLV […]

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Stabilization protocol in a farrow-to-finish farm using PRRS vaccine for pigs

HIPRA Swine Unit — Mon, 10 Oct 2022 08:10:53 +0000

Publication of Arnaud Lebret et al. in the ESPHM 2022 about the economic impact of a PRRS stabilization program in a farm using mass vaccination with a MLV and biosecurity measures. Did you know that there was a return on investment of 4,2 € per pig after implementation of a stabilization protocol in a farrow-to-finish farm using PRRS vaccine for pigs Unistrain® PRRS? Introduction In the last two decades, in France, PRRSV stabilization protocols have been implemented using mass vaccination in pigs with modified live vaccines, herd closure and biosecurity measures. The aim of the study was to evaluate performances and economic improvements after implementation of such protocol in a farrow-to-finish farm using PRRS vaccine for pigs Unistrain® PRRS. Materials and Methods The stabilization protocol was conducted in a 195 sow-farrow-to-finish farm located in a high-density pig area, implementing a 5-week batch farrowing system. For many years, this herd has suffered from abortions, high return-to-estrus rate and high usage of antibiotics in all stages.In end 2019, an active circulation of PRRSV-1 was diagnosed in this farm. The stabilization protocol and its monitoring was implemented as described by Pauline Berton1 and according to the recommendations of AASV2. Production performances, together […]

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Efficacy of UNISTRAIN® PRRS ID against PRRSV2 alone or coinfected with PRRSV1

HIPRA Swine Unit — Mon, 19 Oct 2020 11:24:55 +0000

Different modified live vaccines (MLV) are available in the market for both PRRSV-1 and PRRSV-2. Which should we use to successfully control PRRS in regions where there’s coinfection? The co-existence of both PRRSV-1 and PRRSV-2 at individual and herd level has been increasingly reported in several Asian countries, including China, Korea, and Vietnam (Chen et al., 2011; Kim et al., 2011) and also in some European countries such as Denmark and Germany. Different modified live vaccines (MLV) are available in the market for both PRRSV species so it is difficult to justify which species of PRRSV MLV should be used to successfully control PRRS in the region where the coinfection does exist. UNISTRAIN® PRRS is the live attenuated vaccine based on PRRSV1 from HIPRA, commercially available in both intramuscular (IM) and intradermal (ID) administration applied by Hipradermic®. UNISTRAIN® PRRS administered IM, has already demonstrated partial protection against heterologous PRRSV1 (Bonckaert et al., 2016) or PRRSV2 (Roca et al., 2012). However, UNISTRAIN® PRRS had not been evaluated yet against the coinfection of PRRSV1 and PRRSV2 at the same time. On the other hand, there are not any report on the induction of immune response, IL-10 production and protective efficacy of the […]

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PRRS: What have we learned after 30 years?

HIPRA Swine Unit — Fri, 16 Oct 2020 08:00:11 +0000

The PRRS (Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome) is at the centre of every conversation between farmers and swine veterinarians in the most important pig producing countries worldwide because of the significant productive and economic losses caused on pig farms due to reproductive failure in breeding females and respiratory distress in pigs of different ages (Rossow KD, 1994). Owing to the fact that it is a disease with important aspects still to be clarified, the success of disease control depends on a combination of different strategies. This approach includes health management, monitoring with diagnostics, biosecurity evaluation and vaccination playing a fundamental role. The importance of PRRS monitoring Monitoring allows us to use the most common diagnostic techniques for PRRS so that we can be informed of the status of the animals at all times, know at what age they are infected and how the virus is transmitted within the farm. The lack of systematic monitoring of the PRRSV leads to irregular and non-standardised information about the status of farms, making it even more difficult to understand how the virus flows within the farm and how to control it over time. Although several PRRS diagnostic techniques are available in […]

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PRRS intradermal vaccination of sows: another step forward in the control of PRRS

HIPRA Swine Unit — Tue, 27 Aug 2019 07:52:45 +0000

Numerous strategies have been described for the control of PRRS on farms. After more than 25 years dealing with PRRS disease, most vets agree that in order to successfully control the disease a combination of the following measures is required: animal management, biosecurity, diagnosis and active immunisation. Although vaccination does not necessarily provide full and universal protection against PRRS infection, vaccines have beneficial effects in terms of clinical and virological protection, reducing the impact of the disease. PRRS sow vaccination: What are the benefits? It has been demonstrated that sow vaccination is effective for reduce the number of abortions, the mortality rate of new-born piglets and other reproductive disorders related to PRRS virus infection. On the other hand, with regard to virological parameters, vaccines help to reduce transmission of the infection, since they can contribute to reduce viraemia and shedding. As result, breeding herd vaccination is a useful tool to: Stabilize the herd: thanks to the decrease in the vertical transmission from sows to foetuses. Minimise the impact of an outbreak: due to the homogenization of the sow herd immunity, avoiding negative subpopulations. In this way, there will be fewer opportunities for infection and in the case of infection, […]

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“Together Against PRRS”: Results of the systematic monitoring program and its impact on the control of PRRS

HIPRA Swine Unit — Wed, 20 Mar 2019 12:17:06 +0000

In previous posts we talked about “Together Against PRRS”, a global integrated program developed by HIPRA for the control of PRRSv. In this entry we’ll focus on the results of the systematic monitoring program and its impact on the control of PRRS on pig farms within a Spanish large production group. A total of 40 Spanish breeding herds enrolled in the program. All of them were classified following the Holtkamp classification system (Holtkamp et al., 2011) following the same diagnostic monitoring protocol: monthly individual blood sampling of 30 due-to-wean piglets. Samples were pooled and tested for PRRSv RNA by RT-PCR. As we explained in the previous post, some PCR-positive result samples were also sequenced with the objective of describing the PRRSv genetic diversity among the study herds. What was the trend in terms of PRRSv status? 13 samplings per farm were performed during the one-year monitoring period on the 35 PRRSv positive farms included in the study. Farm classification trends according to PRRS status (PUS: PRRS positive unstable; PSS: PRRS positive stable) are shown in Figure 1. As shown in the figure above, the percentage of PSS farms increased from the beginning of the study until […]

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“Together Against PRRS”, a systematic monitoring program for PRRS on swine farms

HIPRA Swine Unit — Tue, 19 Feb 2019 00:01:34 +0000

Introducing “Together Against PRRS”: HIPRA’s new program for the control of PRRS which includes systematic monitoring, biosecurity evaluation, vaccination plan design and productive and economic impact evaluation. Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome (PRRS) is still the disease with the greatest economic impact on swine production worldwide, causing significant productive and economic losses on pig farms due to reproductive failure in breeding females and respiratory distress in pigs of different ages (Rossow KD, 1994). Owing to the fact that it is a disease with important aspects still to be clarified, the success of disease control depends on a combination of different strategies. The role of monitoring in the global strategy against PRRS Biosecurity, management or vaccination are three of these strategies, but in this post we are going to focus in monitoring, which allows us to use the most common diagnostic techniques for PRRS so that we can be informed of the status of the animals at all times, know at what age they are infected and how the virus is transmitted within the farm. For this reason, epidemiological knowledge not only at farm but also at regional level is key for the control strategy for this […]

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