Circovac now licensed for use in piglets and sows

11-02-2011 | Home | News

Merial Animal Health’s Circovac PCV2 vaccine has now been licensed for use in piglets as well as sows making it the only vaccine licensed for treating the whole herd.

Circovac was the first PCV2 vaccine to become available worldwide and received a full EU licence for use in sows in June 2007. The addition of a licence for use in piglets will give vets and producers greater choice in their herd PCV2 protection strategies.

Ricardo Neto, Merial’s Veterinary Advisor, said: “Studies have shown that using Circovacto vaccinate sows, and protecting their piglets through colostrum transfer, remains the most cost-effective way of protecting the herd against PCV2¹. Vaccinating sows has also been shown to have the benefit of improving sow reproduction¹. However, we recognise that there are circumstances in which piglet, or piglet and sow, vaccination is appropriate. Circovacnow offers the only ‘whole herd’ solution to PCV2, allowing producers and vets to vaccinate piglets, gilts and sows.”

PCV2 (Porcine Circovirus Type 2) is widely acknowledged as being one of the greatest problems affecting the pig industry in recent years. It hit the UK in the late ‘90s and has been estimated to have cost the industry across Europe up to £468 million per year.

PCV2 is involved in a number of Porcine Circovirus Diseases (PCVDs) including post-weaning multi-systemic wasting syndrome (PMWS), porcine dermatitis and nephropathy syndrome (PDNS), porcine respiratory disease complex (PRDC) and proliferating and necrotising pneumonia (PNP).

In recent years studies have also shown that PCV2 is implicated in reproductive problems^{2 3 4} with vaccination of sows with Circovac resulting in increased litter size⁵. While this strengthens the case for vaccinating gilts and sows, there are circumstances in which piglet vaccination may be necessary. These include: situations where colostrum transfer is compromised (in which case protection against other diseases is compromised as well); when buying or mixing piglets from unknown PCV2 vaccination status breeding herds; and where there is a need to achieve faster results while waiting for the progeny of vaccinated sows to be weaned.

Field studies using Circovac in piglets ^{6 7}, have shown that it offers a cost-effective alternative to other piglet vaccines, providing results which are as good as current market competitors, while having the additional benefit of being licensed for use in sows and gilts.

Ricardo Neto says: “It is essential that producers have a plan in place to prevent PCV2 affecting their herds. No matter what regime they choose, the product now provides a cost-effective, whole herd solution that will help them to increase their profitability.”

¹ BPEX Pig Development PCV2 Trial conducted by Leeds University 2009.
² Proceedings of the 48th annual George A. Young Swine Health and management conference, 2007, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, p. 1-6.
³ Segalés et al, Animal health Research Reviews 6(2); 119-142.
⁴ Nauwynck H, Proceedings of the 1st ESPHM, Copenhagen, Denmark, 2009.
⁵Effect of CIRCOVAC^® vaccination of sows on their reproductive performance (2010). John Hayden¹, Ricardo Neto², Francois Joisel³¹Integra Veterinary Services, Mundford, Thetford,UK ²Merial Animal Health Ltd, Woking, UK. ³ Merial S.A.S., Lyon, France. 21st International Pig Veterinary Society congress, Vancouver, Canada, 2010.
⁶Comparison of Circovac® (Merial) and a recently licensed PCV2 weaner vaccine in UK conditions. Tobin F. IPVS 2010.
⁷Submitted APVS 2011 .