Vaccination with a genotype 1 modified live vaccine against porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus significantly reduces viremia, viral shedding and transmission of the virus in a quasi-natural experimental model

• A pig-to-pig transmission model of PRRSV infection in genotype 1 MLV vaccinated pigs.
• Vaccination prevented the development of viremia in 47% of vaccinated pigs.
• Vaccination also reduced the duration of viremia and nasal shedding in infected pigs.
• Reproduction rate for vaccinated pigs was 0.53 compared to 2.78 in non-vaccinated.
• Genotype 1 mass vaccination may help significantly to reduce transmission of PRRSV.

The present study assessed the efficacy of vaccination against genotype 1 porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) in terms of reduction of the transmission. Ninety-eight 3-week-old piglets were divided in two groups: V (n = 40) and NV (n = 58) that were housed separately. V animals were vaccinated with a commercial genotype 1 PRRSV vaccine while NV were kept as controls. On day 35 post-vaccination, 14 NV pigs were separated and inoculated intranasally with 2 ml of a heterologous genotype 1 PRRSV isolate (“seeder” pigs, SP). The other V and NV animals were distributed in groups of 5 pigs each. Two days later, one SP was introduced into each pen to expose V and NV to PRRSV. Sentinel pigs were allocated in adjacent pens. Follow-up was of 21 days. All NV (30/30) became viremic after contact with SP while only 53% of V pigs were detected so (21/40, p < 0.05). Vaccination shortened viremia (12.2 ± 4 versus 3.7 ± 3.4 days in NV and V pigs, respectively, p < 0.01). The 50% survival time for becoming infected (Kaplan–Meier) for V was 21 days (CI95% = 14.1–27.9) compared to 7 days (CI95% = 5.2–8.7) for NV animals (p < 0.01). These differences were reflected in the R value as well: 2.78 (CI95% = 2.13–3.43) for NV and 0.53 (CI95% = 0.19–0.76) for V pigs (p < 0.05). All sentinel pigs (10/10) in pens adjacent to NV + SP pens got infected compared to 1/4 sentinel pigs allocated contiguous to a V + SP pen. These data show that vaccination of piglets significantly decrease parameters related to PRRSV transmission.