Effect of the sow vaccination regimen on the decay rate of maternally derived foot-and-mouth disease antibodies in piglets.

Three pairs of sows were vaccinated against foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) at various intervals before farrowing and samples of blood were collected from their piglets periodically for 70 days after birth. When the sows were vaccinated 12 to 13 days before farrowing the predominating FMD neutralising antibody at time of parturition was IgM and the observed half lives of the maternally derived antibodies in the piglets were short (four to eight days). However, when sows were last vaccinated 30 to 32 days before farrowing, the maternally derived FMD neutralising antibodies in the piglets were predominantly IgG and the observed half lives were seven to 21 days. These observed half lives for IgG were shown to be closely related to the period over which the maternally derived antibodies could be demonstrated and to the rate of increase of the piglet's blood volume over the same period. If corrections were made for increase in blood volume the decay rate of IgM antibodies in piglets was seven to 18 days while the decay rate for IgG was greater than 408 days. This result suggested that there was little or no IgG catabolism or excretion during the first 70 days of the piglet's life.