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Vaccine helps control porcine circovirusBy Jennifer Bremer
Porcine circovirus has severely challenged the pork industry for the past two years, but now a control is available. "I don't think there's a farm in the United States that's negative for porcine circovirus," says Patrick Graham, a veterinarian from Pittsfield, Ill. "PCV vaccines have given pork producers the confidence that they can once again raise pigs." Graham discussed the affects of PCV on a herd before and after the outbreak during an educational seminar at the World Pork Expo in Des Moines recently. "If this was June of 2006, this room would have been a packed house, but now with the vaccines that are available, we can control the disease better," he said. He discussed a herd he worked with starting back in 1995. The herd was a PRRS positive farm, but when they brought in new gilts they would always be PRRS negative. Even though that disease is still present in the herd, it is not an issue. Early on, the herd had no serious health issues, but they had a gradual progression of problems. In 1998 the herd was treated for ileitis. In 2001, they started vaccinating for PRRS three weeks prior to the pigs leaving the nursery. The big problem started in 2005, when he started noticing decreases in feed intake and vaccine failures. "The pigs were not responding to antibiotics and they had clinical signs that something was wrong," said Graham. "We had more culls than normal and a higher death loss." When samples were sent in, the pigs tested positive for several diseases, but an aggressive antibiotic regimen wasn't working because they couldn't pin-point the exact problem. "We started having aggressive sort-offs of the sick pigs and even had to use euthanasia," he said. "The good, healthy pigs were doing well, but the bad ones were very sick." Nursery performance on the farm didn't seem to be affected and an increase was made in the weaning age in hopes to help alleviate the problem. The finisher continued to have problems though. The first vaccination for PCV was given in March 2006. He said after that vaccination, mortality seemed to go down and there was less death loss. "Circovirus vaccine takes circovirus out of the picture, but then other problems occur," he said. Graham said the vaccine has allowed all pork producers to raise hogs without the fear of a PCV problem. Giving the vaccine at the appropriate age allows for the vaccine to work properly. The first dose should be given during the first week the pig is in the nursery or at weaning time. The second dose should be given three weeks later. He said several herds maybe have not seen a problem with PCV, but he doesn't think that necessarily means they are free of the disease, rather that it maybe hasn't surfaced yet. "Other health problems may not show up without PCV present. PCV will make other existing health problems devastating," he added. Jennifer Bremer can be reached by phone at 515-833-2120 or by e-mail at jbremermaj@hotmail.com. 6/30/08 Date: 6/25/08
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