The Guilty Gilt Guide was written with a clear objective – to maximize the whole-herd performance of pig populations by helping gilts to reach their full reproductive potential and produce healthy pigs that reach their full genetic potential during grow-finish.
The open reading frames (ORF)5 represents approximately 4% of the porcine repro- ductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV)-2 genome (whole-PRRSV) and is often determined by the Sanger technique, which rarely detects >1 PRRSV strain if present in the sample.
Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) is an important swine pathogen affecting the global swine industry.
Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae (M. hyopneumoniae) infections continue to result in significant respiratory challenges in the swine industry worldwide. Vaccination for M. hyopneumoniae is commonly utilized, as reduction in bacterial loads and clinical severity in vaccinated pigs have been shown. However, the effect of M. hyopneumoniae vaccination on transmission across different pig populations has been minimally investigated.
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We propose that the strong humoral immunity bias of the host response to PRRSV is mostly responsible for the difficulties in the development of a vaccine deemed effective in the field.
This presentation will review the experiments collaboratively conducted between our laboratory and that of Dr. Federico Zuckerman at the University of Illinois – Urbana-Champaign. These joint experiments are focused on obtaining a better understanding of the events that characterize the early and convalescent periods following PRRSV infection in swine. We have studied the infection by PRRSV in groups of gilts, young weaned pigs, and sexually mature pigs using viral isolation and several virus detection methods, including RT/PCR, in situ hybridization (ISH), and immunohistochemistry (IHC). At the same time, the PRRSV-specific humoral (ELISA and SN) and cellular (IFN-gamma prod cells) responses were studied in these animals. Regarding early pathogenesis of PRRSV, we have extensively used the techniques of ISH and IHC to detect the cells and tissues that are targeted during early infection with pathogenic strains of PRRSV. We found some important exceptions to the generally accepted concept that macrophages are the main (or only) type of cell to be infected by PRRSV in vivo.