“Piglets as well as sows play a key role in transmitting the virus”

Veterinary virologist Dr. Pia Ryt-Hansen from the University of Copenhagen suggests practical lessons for controlling Porcine Respiratory Disease Complex viruses, based on her research into swine Influenza A virus or IAV-S in a sow herd in Denmark. Hear how production strategies and even maternally derived antibodies can actually contribute to viral persistence in the herd, plus potential benefits from the application of diagnostic tools such as genomic sequencing of virus identity and monitoring of coughing by pigs in the barn.
(Running time: 18 minutes) 

“People coming into the herd should at least have a vaccination against influenza”

Influenza A virus (IAV-S) can occur constantly within a swine herd, all year round, warns Dr. Pia Ryt-Hansen in Denmark. This persistence provides an ideal environment for the virus to change. A particular risk would arise if visitors or farm staff introduced seasonal strains of human influenza virus.
Running time: 17 minutes

“Immunevasion and recombination are not linked, but both are part of the same complex allowing some PRRS viruses to evade the normal controls on the farm”

How can PRRS sometimes manage to penetrate apparently well protected farms? Viral mutation and the relatively slow completion of the pig’s immune response offer clues, according to this conversation with Dr. Enric Mateu, Professor of Animal Health at Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona in Spain and researcher at the CRESA Catalan institute of animal health.
Running time: 37 minutes

“There are indications that some of the oldest vaccine strains are not providing full protection against emerging new genotypes of parvovirus”

Hear how Dr. Poul Henning Rathkjen (Boehringer Ingelheim Nordic) and Professor Hans Nauwynck (Head of Virology at the University of Ghent’s veterinary medicine faculty in Belgium) assess recent reports of the emergence of new, virulent strains of the porcine parvovirus PPV. (Running time: 35 minutes)

“In our challenge studies with a highly virulent European strain, the pigs had quite good protection from a vaccine that is new in Europe”

In conversation with Dr. Andrea Ladinig (University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, Austria) and Dr. Greg Stevenson (Iowa State University, USA) about investigations of genetics and vaccination to combat more virulent strains of the PRRS virus. 
(Running time: 23 minutes) 

“Peak titres can show 1,000 times more virus in blood serum with higher virulence strains”

In conversation comparing American and European views of high-virulence PRRS strains, Dr. Greg Stevenson (Iowa State University, USA) and Dr. Andrea Ladinig (University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, Austria) describe marked differences in replication, in ability to cross the placenta before the third trimester of gestation and in severity of lung damage where these so-called hotter strains occur.
                                     (Running time: 33 minutes)

“The tricky part of herd immunisation is how you introduce your gilts”

Our second podcast with Dr. Poul Henning Rathkjen of Boehringer Ingelheim Nordic covers the herd management procedures that support effective vaccination against PRRS.
(Running time: 19 minutes) 

“Like a cloud that is spreading, the diversity of the virus is becoming bigger and bigger”

We hear from Dr. Poul Henning Rathkjen of Boehringer Ingelheim Nordic about the practical value of sequencing to identify a PRRS virus and indicate its origins.
(Running time: 28 minutes) 

“We would like to have more proposals from the field”

Professor Enric Mateu (UAB/CRESA, Barcelona, Spain) chairs the five-person independent expert panel that judges applications for the annual European PRRS research awards sponsored by Boehringer Ingelheim. Here he outlines the three winning proposals in the latest round, each receiving a 25,000 Euros award  and invites more veterinary practitioners to consider applying. 
(Running time: 26 minutes) 

“It’s like an invading army in the lung, pigs can die from it within a day of infection”

This third podcast interviewing Dr. Greg Stevenson (veterinary diagnostic pathologist at Iowa State University, USA) deals with the incredibly rapid, virulent respiratory disease in pigs caused by Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae or APP.    (Running time: 17 minutes)

“Compared to PRRS, Mycoplasma is very slowly transmitted while influenza is a highly transmissible agent” 

After our separate podcast with him about PRRS, veterinary diagnostic pathologist Dr. Greg Stevenson discusses coughing in pigs due to Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae and the type-A swine influenza virus.
(Running time: 33 minutes) 

“Coughs sound different because of subtle differences in the ways that organisms cause damage to the respiratory tract”

Pigs with PRRS have a distinctive cough due to the type of damage inflicted by the virus, we hear from Dr. Greg Stevenson (veterinary diagnostic pathologist at Iowa State University, USA). Combined with information on the number of pigs in a barn that develop coughing over time, this helps us to recognise PRRS and differentiate it from other respiratory pathogens.    (Running time: 38 minutes)