African swine fever vaccine helps protect pigs from disease

(ABO) Not only in Tien Giang province, but also in many other provinces and cities across the country, after being vaccinated against African swine fever (ASF), the pig herd has been well protected against the disease. From the above effectiveness, to protect the pig herd well, farmers need to boldly vaccinate against ASF.

DTHCP VACCINE IS EFFECTIVE

By early October 2023, Mr. Tran Quoc Ha's pig farm (Xuan Dong commune, Cho Gao district, Tien Giang province) had a total of 58 pigs. After seeing the outbreak of ASF in the commune, his family bought ASF vaccine to vaccinate 30 pigs (8-10 weeks old) on October 24.

Mr. Ha's family's 30 pigs vaccinated with DTHCP vaccine are well protected against the disease.

After being vaccinated against ASF, these pigs were kept in separate pens by Mr. Ha and continued to grow normally. However, about half a month later, an unvaccinated pig in the neighboring pen stopped eating.

After that, some other pigs also stopped eating. In total, 2 pigs died. After the test results showed that the pigs had ASF, the family proceeded to destroy them.

In total, the family destroyed 28 pigs (sows and pigs) infected with ASF. The 30 pigs vaccinated against ASF remained healthy.

“When vaccinated against DTHCP, pigs still develop normally. Pigs in vaccinated pens and pigs in unvaccinated pens often come into contact with each other even though there is a cement partition between the two pens, but because it is low.

The interesting thing is that the pigsty that had been vaccinated against DTHCP did not get sick. Overall, this DTHCP vaccine is effective. If I re-herd, I will continue to vaccinate against DTHCP" - Mr. Tran Quoc Ha's wife added.

Also in Xuan Dong commune, Cho Gao district, Mr. Pham Van Chinh's family (Tan Hoa hamlet) vaccinated some pigs in the herd with DTHCP vaccine. In total, Mr. Chinh has vaccinated 11 pigs with DTHCP vaccine, for more than a month now. After vaccination, some pigs ate less, so his family sold 3/11 pigs. About half a month ago, DTHCP occurred at the family's pig farm. Some piglets that were suckling and 2 sows that had not been vaccinated against DTHCP died of the disease and were taken away by the family to be destroyed. However, the remaining 8/11 pigs that were vaccinated against DTHCP were still safe and developing normally.

VACCINATE AGAINST DTHCP TO PROTECT PIG HERDS WELL

According to the Tien Giang Department of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine, in Vietnam, there are currently two types of DTHCP vaccines, NAVET-ASFVAC produced by NAVETCO Central Veterinary Medicine Joint Stock Company and AVAC ASF LIVE produced by AVAC Vietnam Joint Stock Company, which have been granted a certificate of circulation nationwide.

According to the recommendations of the manufacturer of the DTHCP vaccine, for the NAVET-ASFVAC vaccine of NAVETCO Central Veterinary Medicine Joint Stock Company, the vaccination target is healthy pigs from 8 to 10 weeks old; 2 injections, the second injection is 21 to 30 days after the first injection.

For AVAC ASF LIVE vaccine of AVAC Vietnam Joint Stock Company, the vaccination target is healthy pigs from 4 weeks of age and older; inject 2 ml/dose and only inject 1 dose. Both of the above vaccines are not used for sows and boars.

Previously, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) directed the Department of Animal Health and specialized veterinary management agencies of provinces, cities and enterprises to organize vaccination supervision.

As of July 2023, more than 650,000 doses of DTHCP vaccine have been 100% quality controlled; safely used on pig herds in 40 provinces and cities.

After vaccination, all pigs were healthy and grew normally, with a high antibody immune response, reaching an average of over 95%.

In addition, the NAVET-ASFVAC vaccine has been used to vaccinate pig herds in the Dominican Republic; the AVAC ASF LIVE vaccine has been used to vaccinate pig herds in the Philippines.

The Ministries of Agriculture of both countries announced the results of the vaccine safety assessment. 100% of pigs vaccinated against ASF had an immune response to produce antibodies.

In Tien Giang alone, in late 2022 and early 2023, the Department of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine coordinated with the Department of Animal Health of Region VI and local authorities at all levels to organize vaccination and monitoring of NAVET-ASFVAC vaccine for 7 pig herds at 4 breeding facilities of 3 district units (Cho Gao, Go Cong Tay and Cai Lay Town).

The results showed that after 28 days of vaccination against ASF, pigs were all healthy and grew normally, with a high immune response to produce antibodies, reaching 100%.

According to information from the province's veterinary medicine stores, 103 pig farming households have used DTHCP vaccine for their pigs with a total of 9,140 doses.

Of which, NAVET-ASFVAC vaccine is 7,750 doses/83 households and AVAC ASF LIVE vaccine is 1,390 doses/20 households. Up to this point, the pigs after being vaccinated with the above vaccines are all stable and developing normally.

Notably, in Xuan Dong commune (the commune that announced the ASF epidemic on November 13, 2023), 5 households with 89 pigs after 28 days of vaccination with NAVET-ASFVAC were all protected against ASF.

The remaining pigs of the 5 households that were not vaccinated (because they were not in the group of pigs recommended for vaccination) were all infected and destroyed during this epidemic.

This has determined that pigs 28 days after being vaccinated with DTHCP vaccine will be protected against DTHCP disease.

Based on the above, in order to protect pigs from ASF to serve the holiday market at the end of 2023, the Department of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine recommends that farmers should boldly organize vaccination for their pigs.

However, farmers need to thoroughly apply biosecurity measures in pig farming; use DTHCP vaccines of clear origin, confirmed by the vaccine seller; use the right vaccine for the right pigs according to the manufacturer's recommendations.

In addition, farmers should supplement premix vitamins, beta glucan... for pigs within 3 days before vaccination.

According to Director of Tien Giang Department of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Van Man, the province currently has 290,000 pigs; of which, about 9,000 have been vaccinated against ASF, about 3% of the total herd.

Therefore, in addition to ensuring biosecurity in livestock farming, farmers must vaccinate pigs against ASF to protect their herds. Currently, the ASF situation in the province has been basically controlled.

T. DAT

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