May 16, 2007

Dutch research show FMD vaccines do not always protect pigs

A study conducted at the Wagenigen University and Research Centre, the Netherlands show pig vaccination is not a guarantee to prevent foot-and-mouth-disease (FMD) particularly if the pressure of infection is very high.

The experiment, carried out by Karin Orsel, PhD to be, at the university's Faculty of Animal Health, show slaughtering pigs at its production sites is a more efficient system to prevent the disease from spreading rather than vaccinating.

Trials show that one-off vaccinations do not stop the dissemination of a virus between pigs, unlike in other animals particularly in cattle.

According to Aldo Dekker, from the Dutch Central Institute for Animal Disease Control in Lelystad, the Netherlands (CIDC-Lelystad), vaccination in pigs can result to a high pressure of infection.

Dekker said the vaccine can only protect the pigs if there is a "lower dosage of virus". He advised that implementing transport bans and culling production sites at risk are more effective than vaccination.

Dekker added that it will take sometime after vaccination for animals to create sufficient amounts of antibodies.