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--> How does APP suffer damage the pig farms?

--> What are the solutions to control APP?

• Antibiotherapy

• Vaccination

--> Why Coglapix^® is the efficacious and safe solution?

--> What is the most efficacious APP diagnosis procedure?

--> Conclusion

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COGLAPIX^® AND THE PROCEDURE TO CONTROL PLEURO-PNEUMONIA CAUSED BY ACTINOBACILLUS PLEUROPNEUMONIAE (APP)

By PHẠM Châu Giang, Swine Technical Representative - CEVA Animal Health Vietnam

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HOW DOES APP SUFFER DAMAGE THE PIG FARMS?

Porcine pneumonia induced by Actinobacillus pleuropneumonia is one of the most important respiratory diseases of pigs, especially in the fattening period. In the acute forms, APP cause dyspnea (dog sitting posture), dead with blood in the nose, pleurisy accompanied with abscess. Mortality may reach up to 15% (R. Krejci, 2010).

 

Image 1: Dead fattening pig due to APP and the pleurisy accompanied with abscess
 (Source: G. P. Martineau, Ph. Ch. Giang)

In the chronic forms, the feed conversion of pig is increased, the daily gain is decreased 84g and 6 days more to slaughter-house (Rohrbach, 1993). In addition, the pig farms have to suffer the expenses of treatment. In Europe, the economical losses have been measured to reach up to 28.000 € (about 784 millions dong) in a 600 sow farrow-to-finish farm per year (White, 2003).

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WHAT ARE THE SOLUTIONS TO CONTROL APP?

Together with the bio-security, two common solutions are: antibiotherapy and vaccination.

1. Antibiotherapy

Antibiotherapy is generally used today. In the point of view of the farmers, this method can control many diseases in the same time. However, the farmers should be noted that the disease, especially in the respiratory diseases, don’t attack the pigs at the same period of age.

In using the antibiotics to control APP, the farmers should pay attention to the following points:

• The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of antibiotics to control APP is higher than the other bacteria. Therefore the farmers have to use a high amount of special antibiotic in a long time to protect the pig farm against APP. Thus the expenses of antibiotics will be greatly increased.

• Exotoxin is the main pathogenous agent of APP. Antibiotics can only kill bacteria but not neutralize toxins of APP. For this reason, if the farmers apply the antibiotic program to control APP in pig farms, these toxins are still present and harm the pigs with the symptoms like fever, pleuro-pneumonia, abscess in the lung, the losses continue exist in the farm,…

• Furthermore, this measure is not the long-term solution cause of the concern about the antibiotic-resistant. In the first using, the antibiotic can be effective, but in the next usings, the disease can still happen and the losse come back in the pig farms.

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2. Vaccination

Nowaday, there are 2 kinds of vaccines against APP: bacterin and toxoid vaccines.

The bacterin vaccines are very specific to a small number of serotypes. If the strain in the farm is the same with those in the vaccine, this farm will be protected. In the opposite, if the strains in the vaccine are not the same of those in the farm or the other strains penetrate into the farm, the outbreak can happen.

 

Image 2: Example of the bacterin vaccines’s protection against APP.

Today, the strains can be classified to at least 15 serotypes, but the lesions in the respiratory tract induced by APP are mostly associated with the direct effect of RTX toxins named Apx I, Apx II and Apx III. As the result, the toxoid vaccines appear and associates the Apx toxine with all the adhesion antigens. The pigs vaccinated by the toxoid vaccines will produce the antibodies to neutralise these 3 Apx. It means with these vaccines, the vaccinated pigs will be protected against any souches of APP and the problem of the bacterin vaccines is resolved.

 

Image 3: Vaccinated pig with the toxoid vaccines (containing the three toxoids Apx I, Apx II, Apx III) to protect against all strains of APP

However, toxoid vaccines must have a balance of lipopolysacharid (LPS). This content help to increase the immnune reaction but it can induce the post vaccination reaction (PVR) like generalised erythema, convulsion, vomiting,… In some bad cases, the PVR can lead to a dead.

 

Image 4: Pig in PVR; convulsion
 (Source: Eric BRUNIER)

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WHY COGLAPIX^® IS THE EFFICACIOUS AND SAFE SOLUTION?

Coglapix^® is the toxoid vaccine. This vaccine contains Apx I, II and III that are toxoids of APP, lipopolysaccharids and outer membrane protein.

 

Image 5: Vaccine Coglapix^®

Beside the efficiency on the clinical signs and the impact of the performances, has succeeded to overcome this obstacle for a good vaccination practice. With a high quality aluminium hydroxide adjuvant combined with a well controlled level of lipopolysaccharids, Coglapix^® shows a low level of post vaccination reactions. (You can read Porcine Pleuropneumonia - Good Protection Without Stress: COGLAPIX^® to find two field experiments in Thailand and Philippins).  

For this advantage, the pigs can be recovered in a short time and can come back to the meal. That’s why the performance is increased.

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WHAT IS THE MOST EFFICACIOUS APP DIAGNOSIS PROCEDURE?

To manage APP in the farm, CEVA Animal Health Vietnam recommends the APP control procedure, include 4 steps:

- First, the farmers should determine the presentation of APP in the farm by observing of the clinical lesions and serology monitoring (ELISA).  

- Second, should evaluate the influence of APP on the pigs by slaughter-house lung monitoring.

- Third, should establish the solution to control effectively APP in the farm (for example the vaccination program with Coglapix^®). The results of serology monitoring will help the farmers to define whether a vaccination program is reasonable.

- Last, should continue the slaughter-house lung monitoring every 3 - 6 months to assess the efficacy of the APP control procedure in the farm.

Figure 1: The APP control procedure, combine Coglapix^®, serology monitoring and lung scoring in slaughter-house

 

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CONCLUSION

Coglapix^® provides a protection all serotypes of APP and no PVR, then this product helps the farmers to control APP effectively and safety. The coordination between Coglapix^®, serology monitoring and lung scoring in slaughter-house give a strict procedure to control APP.

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