- 1 minute, 24 seconds
- Expertise article
- Spohie Dürlinger, Gyula Blaka, Poul Henning Rathkjen, Christian Kraft, Rebecca Morgenstern, Till Rümpernapf, Andrea Ladinig
Porcine reproductive and repiratory synodrme (PRRS) remians one of the most wide-spread and economically devastating disease in swine industry, characterized by reproducitve losses in breeding herds, as well as respiratory disorders and a prologed fattering period.
The aim of the study was to investigate the effect of a PRRS AUTI5-33 challenge on the daily weight gain and amount of coughing on vaccinated and non-vaccinated piglets.
Study design: in this experiment five groups of piglets at four weeks of age were either vaccinated (1, 2, 5) or not (3, 4) and subsequent challenged with the highly pathogenic PRRS-1 strain AUTI5-33 ("ACRO" strain) with a low dose (10e3, group 2+4) or a high dose (10e5, group 1+3), while group 5 remained un-challenged (negative control). Weight was recorded on day of vaccination (D0), challenge (D28), one and two weeks post challenge (D35/41). Cough was monitored continuisly with a sound recording device (Sound Talks NV, Belgium) throughout the study.
Results: sound recording revealed a slightly higher cough index was recorded in the room with vaccinated piglets until day of challenge while the non-vaccinated groups started to coguh with a more than dobuled coguh index one week after challenge. The weight gain was comparable in all group until the day of challenge. After challenge the weight gain was reduced in the non-vaccinated groups ine week post challenge and was significantly lower compared to the control and vaccinated group.
Conclusion: an experimental challenge with the higly pathogenic strain AUTi5-33 caused a substantial decrease in weight gain and coughinh in unprotected animals both a high and low challenge dose. However, vaccination can ease both effects with a better health status throguh recued coughing and significant higher average daily weight gains after challenge.