“It is administered to piglets as young as a day old, which stimulates immunity before weaning when pigs can be exposed to influenza virus as they are moved and comingled,” Dr. Christa Goodell, DVM and technical manager for the Boehringer Ingelheim U.S. Swine Business, said to Farms.com in an email statement today.
“These elements help to protect against multiple strains of influenza (and) reduce viral shedding, which reduces transmission and the impact of IAV-S across the entire swine population.”
The vaccine can be administered intranasally, providing direct protection at the common site of IAV-S infection, the release said.
The vaccine “has demonstrated cross-protection against relevant circulating IAV-S strains … and has been evaluated for administration in the face of maternal antibodies,” Goodell said.
“All these (factors) can help decrease the burden of the disease in a swine operation.”
IAV-S can have a significant impact on swine operations by reducing productivity and profitability.
“Studies have shown that uncomplicated IAV-S infections can lead to an estimated loss of more than US$3 per pig. When IAV-S is present with concurrent infections, the loss can be greater than US$10 per pig,” Del Birkhofer, head of the U.S. Swine Business and Newport Laboratories, said in the release.
Boehringer Ingelheim developed and sells the product.
More information on Ingelvac ProvenzaTM can be found here.
Updated March 7, 2018