Emergency vaccination alleviates highly pathogenic porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus infection after contact exposure.

Background: To assess the effectiveness of emergency vaccination for reducing the contact-induced infection and pathological damage caused by the highly pathogenic porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (HPPRRSV), Twenty pigs were equally divided into four groups. Groups 1, 2 and 3 were housed in one unit, whereas Group 4 was separately housed. Group 1 was challenged with HPPRRSV on day 0. Group 2 and 4 did not receive treatment and were used as the contact-infected and uninfected controls, respectively. Group 3 was treated with the attenuated vaccine at 0 days post-inoculation. The rectal temperatures, clinical signs, pathologic lesions and viraemia of the piglets were detected and evaluated.

Results: The vaccinated pigs in Group 3 showed less clinical morbidity, viraemia, temperature fluctuations and lung lesions at 14 days post-inoculation, as compared with the contact-infected (Group 2) and experimentally infected (Group 1) pigs. Higher serum IFN-γ levels were detected among the pigs that received emergency immunisation. Thus, IFN-γ may be involved in immunity against HPPRRSV infection.

Conclusions: These results indicated that emergency vaccination could effectively alleviate HPPRRSV infection during experimental contact exposure. Our findings provide a novel and useful strategy for controlling clinical HPPRRSV.