Can immunocrit be used as a monitoring tool for swine vaccination and infection studies?

Background: The immunocrit is a cost-effective and straightforward technique traditionally used to assess passive immunity transfer to newborn piglets. However, it has not been previously used for monitoring the effect of vaccination and/or infections. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the usefulness of the immunocrit technique as an immunological monitoring tool in a vaccination and challenge scenario, using porcine circovirus 2 (PCV-2) as pathogen model.

Efficacy Studies against PCV-2 of a New Trivalent Vaccine including PCV-2a and PCV-2b Genotypes and When Administered at 3 Weeks of Age.

This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of a new trivalent vaccine containing inactivated Porcine Circovirus 1-2a and 1-2b chimeras and a bacterin administered to pigs around 3 weeks of age. This trivalent vaccine has already been proved as efficacious in a split-dose regimen but has not been tested in a single-dose scenario. For this purpose, a total of four studies including two pre-clinical and two clinical studies were performed.

Exploratory field study on the effects of porcine circovirus 2 (PCV-2) sow vaccination at different physiological stages mimicking blanket vaccination.

Background: The objective of the present study was to explore the benefits of Porcine circovirus 2 (PCV-2) blanket vaccination in a sow herd on productive parameters, PCV-2 infection and immune status in sows and their progeny. For this purpose, 288 sows were distributed among four balanced experimental groups. One group remained as negative control group and the other three received 1 mL of PCV-2 Ingelvac Circoflex® intramuscularly at different productive cycle moments: before mating, mid gestation (42-49 days post-insemination) or late gestation (86-93 days post-insemination); phosphate buffered saline (PBS) was used as negative control item.

Porcine circovirus 2 (PCV2) population study in experimentally infected pigs developing PCV2-systemic disease or a subclinical infection.

Porcine circovirus 2 (PCV2) is a single stranded DNA virus with one of the highest mutation rates among DNA viruses. This ability allows it to generate a cloud of mutants constantly providing new opportunities to adapt and evade the immune system. This pig pathogen is associated to many diseases, globally called porcine circovirus diseases (PCVD) and has been a threat to pig industry since its discovery in the early 90's.

Exploratory metagenomic analyses of periweaning failure-to-thrive syndrome-affected pigs.

Modern pig farming is characterised by the emergence of several syndromes whose aetiology is unclear or has a multifactorial origin, including periweaning failure-to-thrive syndrome (PFTS). In fact, its specific aetiology remains elusive, although several causes have been investigated over time. The present study aimed to investigate the potential role of viral agents in PFTS-affected and healthy animals by evaluating the virome composition of different organs using a metagenomic approach.

Porcine circovirus 2 (PCV-2) genetic variability under natural infection scenario reveals a complex network of viral quasispecies.

Porcine circovirus 2 (PCV-2) is a virus characterized by a high evolutionary rate, promoting the potential emergence of different genotypes and strains. Despite the likely relevance in the emergence of new PCV-2 variants, the subtle evolutionary patterns of PCV-2 at the individual-host level or over short transmission chains are still largely unknown. This study aimed to analyze the within-host genetic variability of PCV-2 subpopulations to unravel the forces driving PCV-2 evolution.

Genetic variability of porcine circovirus 2 in vaccinating and non-vaccinating commercial farms.

Vaccines against porcine circovirus 2 (PCV2) are now widely used to control the diseases caused by the virus. Although the vaccines protect pigs against the disease, they do not lead to sterilizing immunity and therefore infections with PCV2 continue in farms. It is expected that, due to its high evolutionary rate, PCV2 can adapt quickly to environmental pressures such as vaccination.

Effect of sow and piglet porcine circovirus type 2 (PCV2) vaccination on piglet mortality, viraemia, antibody titre and production parameters.

The present study describes the effects of sow and/or piglet porcine circovirus type 2 (PCV2) vaccination on viraemia, antibody response and production parameters (average daily weight gain [ADWG] and mortality) of piglets from a PCV2 subclinically infected farm. Four hundred seventy-six piglets born from vaccinated (V) or non-vaccinated (NV) sows were further subdivided in a total of four groups: NV sows-NV pigs (NV-NV, n=134), NV sows-V pigs (NV-V, n=135);V sows-NV pigs (V-NV, n=104) and V sows-V pigs (V-V, n=103). A single vaccination of sows before mating was able to confer significantly higher antibody titres to their piglets at 4 weeks of age and a different PCV2 dynamics infection compared to piglets coming from NV sows.