Custom Vaccines: Swine

New Swine Influenza Virus (SIV) vaccines
Custom PRRS
Other custom vaccines

Keeping animals healthy is a constant concern for swine producers. When new diseases or disease strains crop up for which no vaccine is available, or when existing vaccines don’t seem to be effective, custom vaccines may be the solution.

Custom vaccines are manufactured from the specific viruses or bacteria that cause disease in your operation. Working with your veterinarian, Novartis Animal Health US can identify the disease agent and create a vaccine to use in your herd.

Whatever the health problem – respiratory, gastrointestinal, or diseases with multiple effects on joints, skin, blood or lungs – custom vaccines can be an effective, cost-effective answer.

Swine Influenza Virus (SIV) vaccines

A strain of swine influenza virus (SIV) called H3N2, first identified in the US in 1998, has brought exasperating production losses to swine producers. Abortion storms are a common sign. Sows go off feed for two or three days and run a fever up to 106° F. Mortality in a naïve herd can run as high as 15%. In 1999, H1N2 was identified by the Novartis team from pigs with clinical respiratory disease.

Signs of SIV

• Coughing (loud, barking cough)
• Fever up to 106°
• Lack of appetite
• Nasal discharge
• Weight loss
• Reproductive losses (abortions, stillbirth, infertility, weak piglets)

Commercial vaccines may not provide adequate cross-protection against new strains of the virus. Custom vaccines from Novartis Animal Health can help producers guard against specific virus strains on their farm. These vaccines are produced in USDA-approved facilities and are tested for both safety and quality before being sent to the farm’s veterinarian.
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Custom PRRS vaccines

Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome, or PRRS, is a mysterious viral disease. So far, attempts to find the specific causes and create an effective commercial vaccine have been unsuccessful. PRRS virus strains appear to be changing, growing more potent, and increasing in number.

The good news is that autogenous or custom PRRS vaccines, which are made from the exact virus strain found in the herd being treated, offer a solution to the frustrating PRRS problem. Custom PRRS vaccines, which are killed products, can work in nursery or grow/finish pigs, but their real benefit is in the sow herd. Coupled with strict pigflow protocols and biosecurity measures, a custom vaccine can be a safe, effective solution that does not pose the same risks to the sow herd as a modified live vaccine.

If PRRS is suspected or diagnosed in your herd, ask your veterinarian whether a custom vaccine might be the answer.
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Other custom vaccines

Custom swine vaccines are also available for these and other bacteria and viruses:

Multi-system disease (arthritis, pneumonia, central nervous system, septicemia, joints, skin, wasting syndrome)

• Strep suis
• Haemophilus parasuis
• Actinobacillus suis
• Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae
• PRRS

Respiratory disease

• Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae (APP)
• Bordetella bronchiseptica
• Pasteurella multocida
• Swine influenza virus
• PRRS

Gastrointestinal disease

• E. coli
• Clostridium perfringens
• Salmonella species

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