Merial was recently granted a special import permit to allow the importation and distribution in Canada of Circovac, a vaccine designed to protect against Post-weaning Multisystemic Wasting Syndrome (PMWS).
Merial global technical services director Dr. Francois Joisel says Circovac is administered to the sow which then passes the protection to her offspring. He notes the company decided to choose the sow option for this vaccine because, "first of all, contamination of the piglet occurs very early in life. Secondly, it’s really necessary not to immunostimulate the piglets early in life because it may trigger PMWS so the sow option appeared to be the best option."
Canada has been experiencing an especially severe clinical outbreak of PMWS since late 2004. Larry Skinner, chair of Ontario Pork’s board, recently commented that provincewide "mortality rates are running at 10 to 12 per cent ? five to six times above the norm on affected farms. On the hardest-hit farms, the figure is 40 to 50 per cent or more and he sympathized with those struggling farmers."
Dr. Joisel says the vaccine, manufactured in Leone, France, has been in use in France and Germany for the past year and a half and more than 350,000 sows have been vaccinated with particularly encouraging results. He says the first shipment was received in Canada about two weeks ago and supplies should be readily available. Due to its conditional licensure, the vaccine is currently only available through veterinarians.
Reportedly, other companies are also close to releasing their own vaccines.