The Humoral Response of Sows and Young Pigs to Foot and Mouth Disease Vaccination.

Groups of pregnant sows were inoculated with type 01 foot and mouth disease (FMD) oil emulsion vaccine at various times before farrowing and samples of the sow's serum, colostrum and milk, and piglets serum were collected for analysis. Pregnant sows responded well to vaccination regardless of their state of gestation. Single vaccination produced protective levels of antibody in three out of four sows while double vaccination produced protective levels in all six sows tested. Although there was no evidence of a fall in the neutralizing antibody titres over one year post vaccination the IgG antibody population did show signs of a change in its heterogeneity and avidity. No FMD neutralizing antibodies were detectable in the piglets’ serum at birth but they were present 1. 5hr after suckling and peak titres were reached one to three days later. Samples of colostrum/milk collected from different teats three days after farrowing showed significant (P