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An Ohio State University researcher has created a unique vaccine to protect swine from porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS).
Unlike the current live vaccines used to prevent PRRS, the new vaccine uses an inactivated virus to eliminate adverse reactions in pigs such as abortion, sick piglets and further spread of the disease, said Renukaradhya (Aradhya) Gourapura, an associate professor in the university's Food Animal Health Research Program (FAHRP), part of the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center (OARDC).
The largest agbioscience university research center in the U.S., OARDC is the research arm of Ohio State'sCollege of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences.
The new vaccine is also enclosed in biodegradable nanoparticles, which improves its efficacy and its absorption by a pig's immune system.
"Our tests have shown that two doses of this vaccine, administered intranasally along with a potent mucosal adjuvant, achieve 100 percent protection in pigs against genetically variant PRRS virus," said Gourapura, who started working on this project in 2009.
"Current PRRS virus vaccines are injected in the muscle, but this method of vaccination induces very little immunity in the respiratory system, where it's actually needed," he said. "Applying the vaccine through the nose ensures that it goes directly into the respiratory system, where it's better taken up by immune cells and induces adequate local mucosal immunity against the virus."
Wednesday September 4, 2013/ Ohio State University/ United States.
http://cfaes.osu.edu
