FUTURENEWS THE UNIVERSITY OF CONCEPCIÓN (CHILE) WORKS ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF A VACCINE AGAINST LAWSONIA
Alvaro Ruiz G.: “Our aspiration is under no circumstances to compete with the commercial vaccine, but to offer more options to the farmer.” Álvaro Ruiz G. in the experimental unit. Photo: Álvaro Ruiz G.
In Chile, all farms are seropositive to Lawsonia intracellularis, a disease that can cause a severe digestive problem in pigs and can mean significant economic losses for farmers. Last September, the University of Concepción in Chile began a project to develop an alternative injectable vaccine to control this disease. To learn more about this project, we spoke with Álvaro Ruiz, associate professor at the University of Concepción de Chile and researcher of this project. What is Lawsonia intracellularis? It is a bacterium that, as the name suggests, is intracellular. 14
It causes a severe digestive issue in intensively produced pigs, especially in new herds, causing significant damage and economic losses. What impact does it have on the Chilean pig sector? Currently, in Chile, all farms are HIV-positive in Lawsonia. Although there are commercial vaccines for its control (an oral one administered with water, and another injectable one, from two large international pharmaceutical companies,) vaccination is relatively recent, and Lawsonia is still a significant problem. Specifically, it can cause, mainly, two different cases: an acute state, which can be fatal,
with hemorrhagic enteritis, and a chronic one, where there is a thickening of the wall of the intestine, which implies a progressive thinning of the animals due to malabsorption of nutrients in the intestine. What effects does the entry of this disease into a farm have? When it enters for the first time and has no antibodies, it produces an acute state, with high mortality. Then chronic and/or subclinical conditions that seriously affect the productive parameters have a tremendous economic impact. In the end, all subclinical and chronic diseases are a big problem, as you don’t realise you have it until it’s very apparent.
