Vaccination with a porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus vaccine at 1-day-old improved growth performance of piglets under field conditions.

A porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) modified live-virus (MLV) vaccine was evaluated under field conditions for registration as recommended by the Republic of Korea's Animal, Plant & Fisheries Quarantine & Inspection Agency. A single dose of the vaccine was administered to 1-day-old piglets and their growth performance was monitored under field conditions. Three separate farms were selected based on their history of PRRSV-associated respiratory diseases. On each farm, 40 pigs were randomly allocated to one of two treatment groups: (i) vaccinated (n = 20) and (ii) unvaccinated (n = 20) pigs at 1 day of age. Vaccinated pigs showed an increase of their market weight of 6.23 kg/pig compared to the unvaccinated pigs (98.01 kg in vaccinated group vs. 91.78 kg in unvaccinated group; P < 0.05) and exhibited a decrease in mortality rate by 6.7% (3.3% in vaccinated group vs. 10% in unvaccinated group; P < 0.05). The pigs had a sufficiently mature immune system for the vaccine to elicit humoral and cell-mediated immunity (as measured by anti-PRRSV antibodies and PRRSV-specific interferon-γ secreting cells, respectively) at 1 day of age even in the presence of maternally derived antibodies. The results presented in this study demonstrate that the PRRSV MLV vaccine is effective in improving growth performance from day 1 all the way to day 182 in endemic farms suffering with PRRSV-2 infection or both PRRSV-1 and PRRSV-2 infection.