(Reuters) — An Iowa animal pharmaceutical company has shipped 770,000 doses of a new vaccine that treats a deadly swine virus first detected in U.S. herds this year.
Harrisvaccines of Ames, Iowa, developed the iPED vaccine in August to fight porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PED). It is one of the first U.S. companies to develop a vaccine to fight the disease.
“As soon as we heard of the confirmed cases we started developing the vaccine,” said Joel Harris, Harrisvaccines’ head of sales and marketing.
“The vaccine has been used in multiple states, including Iowa and North Carolina, but it is too early to know how effective the vaccine is.”
Read Also
August rain welcome, but offered limited relief
Increased precipitation in August aids farmers prior to harvest in southern prairies of Canada.
The virus, which has spread to 20 states, is not harmful to humans but causes diarrhea, vomiting and dehydration in hogs and can result in death, particularly in piglets whose weak immune systems are less able to fight off the virus.
“The vaccine is predominately being used in herds that are already affected. They have either already been exposed to the virus or it is used when bringing in animals where the virus is already present,” Harris said.
The company said it is working with the U.S. Department of Agriculture to obtain a conditional licence to more widely market and sell the vaccine. The vaccine is available only through a veterinarian prescription basis, Harris said.
The USDA can grant a company a conditional license for animal vaccines in special circumstances, including emergency situations or for a limited market distribution, said Lyndsay Cole, spokesperson for the department’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.
“The hope is to have this conditional USDA approval as soon as possible and then it would be able to be more widely distributed. We are looking to get approved by early to mid 2014,” Harris said.
Vaccines have been used to fight PED in Asia and Europe, but those vaccines are not approved for use in the U.S. because of concerns over their effectiveness, animal health officials said.
The National Pork Board has issued strict biosecurity guidelines to hog producers, live animal transporters, and manure handlers to inhibit the spread and transmission of the virus.
“Vaccines are a tool and it won’t override general biosecurity practices. Biosecurity is still key,” said David Schmitt, state veterinarian in Iowa.
