July 13, 2006

 

US researchers develop vaccine for PCV2

 

 

US researchers have developed a vaccine for Porcine Circovirus Two (PCV2), the result of a six-year joint project between Virginia Tech, Iowa State University and Fort Dodge Animal Health.

 

PCV2 has caused immune system problems in Europe and Asia for more than a decade and is currently menacing North Carolina. Mortality rates for the disease can be as high as 30 percent, thus causing millions in losses yearly for producers.

 

PCV2 is also the third-most prevalent pig virus in the world behind only Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome and Swine Influenza.

 

 

While young pigs infected with the virus are safe for consumption, the virus causes wasting syndrome, making it difficult for them to gain weight. The disease can also cause developmental and respiratory problems.

 

Currently, no cure for the disease exists.

 

X.J. Meng, a physician and assistant professor at the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine's, headed the team at Virginia Tech to develop the vaccine.

 

Fort Dodge Animal Health, a manufacturer and distributor of animal health products, helped fund the research and recently received full licensure for the vaccine -- Suvaxyn PCV2 One Dose, which went on the market last month.

 

Several similar vaccines are being developed, but this vaccine is the first to receive more than a temporary license. That head start, coupled with the brand recognition in the industry of Fort Dodge, gives it an advantage.

 

Dr Butch Baker, a veterinarian and professor in population health and pathobiology at North Carolina State College, said the outbreaks are not rampant but 20 to 25 percent of the pigs in North Carolina is afflicted with the disease.

 

Baker said with the conducive conditions in the market currently, many producers are seeing profit margins of at least US$40 a slaughtered pig.

 

With such profits, the numbers of pigs reaching the finisher is probably at record levels, Baker muses.

 

Still, Baker could not help wondering what it would have been like if all the healthy pigs had gone to market.