There’s a new vaccine to protect pigs from Porcine
Respiratory and Reproductive Syndrome virus (PRRS).
It has been developed at the University of Ohio by Renukaradhya
Gourapura, an associate professor
in the university’s Food Animal Health Research Program.
It is an inactivated virus vaccine for
nasal administration. It’s enclosed in biodegradable nanoparticles which
improve its absorption into the pigs’ immune systems.
“Our tests have shown that
two doses of this vaccine, administered intranasally along with a
potent mucosal adjuvant, achieve 100 percent protection in pigs against
genetically variant PRRS virus,” said Gourapura.
“Current PRRS virus
vaccines are injected in the muscle, but that method of
vaccination induces very little immunity in the respiratory system, where
it’s actually needed,” he said.
“Applying the vaccine through
the nose ensures that it goes directly into the respiratory system, where
it’s better taken up by immune cells and induces adequate local mucosal immunity
against the virus,” he is quoted by Farm & Dairy newspaper.