Ryan Izard, ASP’s Chief Science and Technology Officer, was invited to speak at the Merial International Avian Theoretical and Practical Forum 2013. The Forum, sponsored by Merial, was to educate Russian distributors and producers about current poultry health issues. Both Ryan and ASP President, Bailey Reynolds, were in attendance along with Biovet-K, a key distributor in the Russian animal health market. Set in the resort city of Aranđelovac, Serbia, over 100 attended the four day event in September.
Ryan’s presentation discussed current management strategies critical for effective poultry vaccination programs. During his talk he presented research data showing common threats resulting in reduced vaccine efficacy in mass application via water and spray systems. Key threats that producers need to be keenly aware of include: oxidizers, such as chlorine and iron; pH; and tonicity. It is important to understand that any of these threats can significantly reduce the viability of vaccines. Poor vaccine viability will result in reduced ability for the birds to build the immunity required to gain full benefit from administered vaccines.
Ryan discussed methods that have been proven to be effective against these issues and how ASP’s vaccine protection products are the industry leader in addressing vaccine efficacy. “Those in attendance gained a richer understanding of optimizing poultry health and food safety by utilizing a proper vaccination program” according to Ryan. A strong vaccine management program also allows producers to minimize their reliance on antibiotics.
In addition to Ryan’s speech, the attendees were presented information about health topics that included respiratory, structural, and gastrointestinal diseases. A major thrust of the convention was to introduce Merial’s key new vaccine, Vaxxitek®. The innovative “vectored” vaccine combines HVT (Marek’s disease) and IBD (Infectious bursal disease) antigens by inserting IBD DNA fragments into the cells that also carry the HVT antigen. Consequently the HVT becomes a vector to carry the IBD, making it ideal for in-ovo vaccination into eggs prior to hatch. The technology eliminates maternal antibody interference, reduces the lag time to build antibodies, and gives faster IBD protection that is life-long.
Merial’s Russian vaccine managers also projected growth in adoption of spray technologies, taking advantage of ASP’s Spray-Vac and Spray-Vac Spectrum stabilizers to improve vaccination success.