Publications by authors named "James M Hammer"

Although porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) vaccines have been available in North America for almost 30 years, many vaccines face a significant hurdle: they must provide cross-protection against the highly diverse PRRSV strains. This cross-protection, or heterologous vaccine efficacy, relies greatly on the vaccine's ability to induce a strong immune response against various strains-heterologous immunogenicity. Thus, this study investigated vaccine efficacy and immunogenicity of a modified live virus (MLV) against four heterologous type 2 PRRSV (PRRSV-2) strains.

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As genetic analysis becomes less expensive, more comprehensive diagnostics such as whole genome sequencing (WGS) will become available to the veterinary practitioner. The WGS elucidates more about porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) beyond the traditional analysis of open reading frame (ORF) 5 Sanger sequencing. The veterinary practitioner will require a more complete understanding of the mechanics and consequences of PRRSV genetic variability to interpret the WGS results.

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The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of two dietary feeding periods of tiamulin in combination with chlortetracycline for the control and treatment of swine respiratory and enteric disease and subsequent growth performance. The study used 1,151 commercial crossbred barrows and gilts in a randomized complete block design. Pigs were housed in single-sex groups of 25 at a floor space of 0.

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The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of two antibiotic feeding programs in comparison to nonmedicated controls on the incidence of morbidity and mortality and growth performance of nursery pigs in a commercial setting. The study used 2,250 crossbred pigs in a randomized complete block design (blocking factor = start date). There were two dietary phases with three treatments in each phase: 1) nonmedicated controls vs.

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