Health - MSD Animal Health UK
mortality of vaccinated fish in the PD infected sites was reduced significantly to the level of the non-infected sites and that less fish were discarded at harvest.
VACCINATION TRENDS – NORWAY AND UK The sessions concluded with overviews of vaccination uptake in Norway and the UK. Lene Hoegest, Technical Manager from MSD Animal Health Norway, presented data to support the large numbers of salmon now vaccinated for PD. This is now estimated to be 640 million doses since PD vaccines were introduced into the country in 2003. The success of vaccination has been supported by adaptive management practices with MSD Animal Health working closely with produc- ers to maximise efficacy. Another factor highlighted was herd immunity, where it is reported that with the increasing level of immunity created by vaccination the overall infection pressure has dropped which has aided healthy production. Keith Morris, Commercial Manager MSD Animal Health UK, presented the data reporting on the use of PD vaccines in the UK. All the major UK producers have now vaccinated with Compact PD, with over 130 sites vaccinated and in excess of 70m salmon protected since 2008. Monitoring of fish has confirmed a significant number of sites reporting fish that have been exposed to the virus but with no outbreaks reported. This is providing additional confidence to producers to maintain vaccination programmes. Data presented to the delegates from a monitored site demonstrated a 50% fall in mortality and 45% decrease in biomass loss since establish- ing a PD vaccination strategy. The presenta- tion concluded with an explanation of the company’s Vaccine Payback Calculator which factors in the uplift in performance and the cost of vaccine. This demonstrated that even moderate improvements could significantly impact bottom line performance.
MONITORING VACCINATION STRATEGIES AND FEEDBACK The afternoon session began with MSD Animal Health UK Technical Manager Dafydd Morris reporting on the performance and feedback from producers who are benefiting from the company’s PD Monitor programme. PD Monitor has been specifically developed to deliver MSD expertise and technical support at appropriate stages of the production process. Including (a) Site assessments to determine the best vaccination strategy (b) Vaccine handling and pre- vaccination routines (c) Monitoring and feedback on vac- cine efficacy including blood tests and fish sampling. The presentation concluded with an introduction to VaxApp, a new application for smart phones and tablets which the company is due to release shortly.
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PRODUCER EXPERIENCE IN MANAGING MYOPATHIES
The final formal presentation was given by
Dave Cockerill MRCVS, Fish Health Manager from Marine Harvest Scotland. ‘Myopathy – an industry perspective’ provided an opportunity for delegates to understand the perspective of disease control from Scotland’s leading producer. Tracking the impact, essentially mor- tality from PD and other myopathies since 2005. Showing a peak in 2007 through to considerably lower and manageable levels in recent years, Dave confirmed that historically PD/SAV has been the dominant factor. Fol- lowing introduction of vaccination at problem sites in 2009 the levels have continued to fall, with no significant mortality since 2012. Marine Harvest has developed its own monitoring regime, which includes PCR test- ing when early indicators identify issues. With all sites blood tested monthly as a matter of course, in addition to daily monitoring the company is able to continually monitor fish health. Conscious of the impact of PD and other myopathies on flesh quality post-har- vest, and the imperative for improving quality, the company continually records creatine phosphokinase (CPK) levels, an indicator of muscle damage which has proved a useful method of predicting fillet downgrades. An open session debating the needs of the industry from a diagnostic laboratory led by Dr Marian McLoughlin concluded the day.
BUILDING COLLABORATIVE SUCCESS
Simon Doherty from AFBINI highlighted the success of the event. ‘This proved to be a highly valuable day. We were fortunate to have had the opportunity to host a full spectrum of professional experts on PD. The quality of the presentations and the active participation of the delegates emphasised the collaborative successes and new opportuni- ties that are now available in developing strategies to diagnose, vaccinate and monitor the health of commercial salmon operations,’ he concluded. FF
From top: Dr Marian McLoughlin; Dr David Graham; Dafydd Morris, MSD’s Technical Manager
An estimated 640 million doses of PD vaccines have been administered in Norway
www.fishfarmer-magazine.com
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