Safety and quick, long-lasting immune response of the ileitis vaccine in pigs with two schemes at 3 and 5 week-old

Ileitis, or proliferative enteritis, is an important problem for industrial pig farming worldwide and in Vietnam. This study aimed to evaluate the safety and antibody response of the Porcilis®Ileitis inactivated vaccine using two vaccination schedules at 3 and 5 weeks of age in an industrial pig farm. The results showed that the vaccine was highly safe after vaccination at 3 and 5 weeks of age regarding both local and systemic reactions. The incidence of mild systemic reactions was less than 1% in the experimental groups V-3-A and V-3-B within two hours after injection. In vaccinated groups, antibody levels quickly reached positive (PI > 30%) two weeks after vaccination. Although the vaccination scheme was delayed at 5 weeks of age (V-5-A and V-5-B), the antibody titer after vaccination increased rapidly, reaching positive after only >1 week and increased higher than the group of pigs vaccinated at 3 weeks of age (groups V-3-A and V-3-B) at 11 weeks of age (6 weeks after vaccination). The antibody titer response after vaccination in experimental pigs remained high (PI = 70 - 80%) until slaughter. The antibody response did not peak during the observation period after vaccination. These findings indicate that the Porcilis®Ileitis inactivated vaccine provides high safety and a rapid, strong, and prolonged antibody response at both 3 and 5 weeks of age; particularly, achieving high titers during the post weaning window in which pigs are particularly susceptible to Lawsonia intracellularis.