1. 4TH MERIAL FORUM
HAVE WE GOT PCVD &
SWINE INFLUENZA UNDER
CONTROL?

2. PCVD session 3
Moderator: Dr Thaïs Vila
• PCVD in 2012: a special focus
on sub clinical forms, Pr. J. Segalés
• CIRCOVAC piglet vaccination: successful
field experience in Spain, Dr A. Finestra
• PCVD control in 2012: how to design the
best PCV2 vaccination programme?
Drs F. Smeets & G. Perreul

3. How to choose the best PCV2
vaccination plan?
Dr Frédéric SMEETS, SELAS « La Hunaudaye »
Dr Jean-Bernard HERIN, Merial France
Dr Guillaume PERREUL, Merial France
Dr Benoit BOIVENT, Merial France

4. The team…
• Frédéric works as • French technical
veterinarian and marketing
• for pig farmers Merial team
members of the most
important French
cooperative
• 5,7 millions pigs
sold/year (24% of
national production)

5. THE question
« How to choose the best PCV2 vaccination
programme ?»

6. Why this question?
• PCV2 is ubiquitous and the disease has changed:
– from PMWS to chronic and sub-clinical forms
– great variability of clinical signs
• Bad acclimatization of gilts
• Reproductive disorders
• Piglet heterogeneity
• Moderate mortality rate
• 3 major potential PCV2 vaccination programmes:
– Sow vaccination
– Piglet vaccination
– Sow and piglet vaccination

7. Agenda
• PCV2 vaccination programme project: objectives
• Validation of PCV2 antibodies in oral fluids
– Aim of the study
– Material and methods
– Results
• Conclusions and perspectives

8. Objectives of the project
• To provide the appropriate tool to choose the
best PCV2 vaccination programme
• Global approach including
– Farm parameters:
• Farm characteristics (size, buildings, manpower…),
• Farm management,
• Expectations from the farmer
– Technico economic performance
– Health status
• PCV2 epidemiology in the farm

9. Assessment of PCV2 infection
dynamics
• Different tools available
– PCV2 antibodies profile (serology)
– PCV2 DNA copy profiles (PCR)
• Need for a reliable, convenient and
affordable method for sampling
– antibodies in oral fluids: already used for other
pathogens

10. Oral fluid sampling
• SANI TEST (diagnostic kit)
all the material for oral fluids sampling
• A piece of rope
• Plastic bags
• Gloves
• Test tubes
• Procedure of sampling

11. Agenda
• PCV2 vaccination programme project:
objectives
• Validation of PCV2 antibodies in oral fluids
– Aim of the study
– Material and methods
– Results
• Conclusions and perspectives

12. Aim of the study
• To evaluate PCV2 infection dynamics in sows and
piglets using an innovative, easy and economic tool
• By validating the use of oral fluids in comparison
with serum for the detection of PCV2 antibodies
– Is SANI TEST a good method to collect saliva?
• Piglet behaviour: do they chew correctly the rope?
• How many ropes per pen are needed?
– Is SANI TEST a suitable method to detect PCV2 antibodies?
• Is there a good correlation between oral fluid and serum?

13. Materials and methods:
the farms
• 7 farrow to finish farms:
– clinical signs related to PCV2 (4 herds), or NOT
– vaccinated (3 herds with PCV2 piglet
vaccination only) or NOT
– located in Western part of France, variable pig
density areas

14. Sampling per farm
• 16 SERA – 5 ORAL FLUIDS: 1/ group,
– from 4 parities groups :
5 groups of age:
• 4 gilts in quarantine for • 4 weeks old
less than 2 weeks • 8-10 weeks old
• 4 sows parity 1 • 12-14 weeks old
• 4 sows parity 2 • 16-18 weeks old
• 4 sows parity > 4 • > 20 weeks old
– SERA: all the piglets which
are likely to chew, were
blood sampled
1 oral fluid 1 pool of all the
sera

15. Laboratory analysis
• Sera of sows were analysed individually
• Sera of pigs were pooled by age
• Oral fluids were pooled by pen
• ELISA PCV2:
– Quantitative results for sera
– Semi quantitative method for oral fluids
(+) to (+++++)
• PCV2 antibodies in sera and oral fluids were
compared using a linear regression test

16. Is SANI TEST a correct
method to collect oral fluids?
The proof in pictures

17. Video
(extract for 30 sec’)

18. Did all the pigs chew the
rope?
Chewing is representative of all
the pigs in the pen tested!

19. Yes Oral fluid
To leave the rope for 30 minutes
sampling:
procedure
A rope for 8 pigs
A strong knot
A rope at level (snout) No
A too long rope
The best place to put the rope =
=
the door of the box
It will be dirty at the bottom
A diameter less than 12mm
Adapted diameter
for weaned piglets
Change your gloves To make noise
When you squeeze the rope when they are chewing

20. A strong knot Collecting the oral fluid
1 1
2 2
3 3
4 4

21. Oral fluids need to be kept at cold T°
Because oral fluids contain:
• Enzymes
• Dust
• Food
• Inhibitors
• AND Immunoglobulins like
• IgA: protected by a secretion piece
• IgG: they are the ones we want to detect them
•Take care with 3 steps:
• Transport from farm to vet office (+4°C +8°C)
• Storage in your office ( - 20°C)
• Transport from office to laboratory (ice)

22. If you do not take care…

23. Blood ORAL
sample Results: farm 1 to 4 FLUIDS

24. Blood ORAL
sample Results: farm 5 to 7 FLUIDS
• Il y a les mêmes
graphes à la page
d’avant
• Sont-ils par vaccinés
et non vaccinés?

25. Results
• Good correlation between sera and oral
fluids PCV2 antibodies titres
– 90.8% (r²=0.908)
• No difference in the sensitivity of both
methods
– McNemar test: p=0.174
• Same profiles with sera and oral fluids
• Different profiles according to the farm
– PCV2 vaccinated or not
– Clinical signs

26. Conclusion
• Detection of antibodies in oral fluids:
– an innovative method
– YES, it works!
• Next step:
• To give the best recommendation for PCV2 vaccination
program according to this profile and characteristics of the
farm (health status, clinical signs and risk factors, technico
economic performance)
• Further investigations are still needed
– Large scale field study on going
• This is the first episode of the story…

27. What do you prefer?
Chewing or blood sampling?

28. Thanks for your attention!