Development of maternal antibodies after oral vaccination of young female wild boar against classical swine fever.

Abstract

An experimental study was performed to investigate the development of maternal antibodies after oral immunisation of young female wild boar against classical swine fever (CSF) using C-strain vaccine. Our results demonstrated that maternal antibodies do not persist in the offspring for more than 3 months. Based on the neutralising serum antibody titres, we assume that piglets of wild sows vaccinated orally twice or immunised once a long time before conception have protective antibodies for approximately 2 months. Furthermore, it seems that the level and the duration of maternal antibodies in the offspring are depend on the age of the female animals at the moment of vaccination as demonstrated in our experiment. The recent vaccination procedure consists of three double vaccinations in spring, summer and autumn. Especially vaccinations in summer and autumn could be crucial for transfer of high maternal antibody titres to the offspring.