A leading animal health executive has called for the creation of increased partnerships between commercial businesses and “expert veterinarians” to achieve better preventative respiratory health on farms.
“We believe that more sharing of knowledge between professionals, producers and veterinarians is the future for our industry,” said the head of swine business activities for Ceva Sante Animale, Dr. Stefano Gozio, speaking during a recent product-based symposium in Barcelona.
The symposium, which brought pig experts from around the world to discuss the need for better preventative respiratory health on farms, featured the launch of Ceva’s new vaccine, Hyogen, which the company said “protects against Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae”.
“Respiratory diseases are still the biggest health issue for the pig industry worldwide with a clearly associated economic impact for producers,” said Ceva. “Research has found that pigs infected with Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae in the US, for example, costs the US swine industry a total of $367 million (£240m) annually.
“With 90% of pig farms worldwide affected by respiratory disease and an urgent need to preserve the future of antibiotics by reducing the previous practice of prophylactic use, the adoption of targeted, preventative health programmes has become even more critical.”
The company said that Hyogen provides “superior protection” against the respiratory infection caused by Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae bacteria and that the one-shot application at weaning makes it easy to administer. In addition, as a killed bacterial vaccine combined with a potent adjuvant, it is claimed to confer the “longest protection of up to 26 weeks” throughout the entire fattening period.