The effectiveness of inactivated vaccines applied parenterally to sows to control Escherichia coli diarrhea in piglets in an industrial fattening farm.

Different vaccines against Escherichia coli diarrhea of piglets were applied parenterally in pregnant sows at an industrial fattening farm. The following vaccines were used: vaccine No. 1 with non-complete Freund's adjuvant. Tween 80 and Arlacel A, comprising O149:K91,K88; O139:K82; O8:K87,K88; O141:K85,K88; and O64:K? E. coli serotypes; vaccine No. 2 with paraffin oil instead of Freund's adjuvant, comprising the same E. coli serotypes as the vaccine No. 1; stable specific vaccine with 10% aluminum hydroxide, based on E. coli serotypes most frequently isolated from piglets which died at the farm (O149:K91,K88; O8:K87,K88; O20:K17; O64:K?); Gletvax K88 (Wellcome) and NOBI-VAC LT-K88 (Intervet International). The number of piglets which died up to the moment of weaning in comparison to the number of born ones was considered as an indicator of acquired protection. It was found that the most effective in conferring protection against E. coli diarrhea were: vaccine No. 1 and NOBI-VAC. The differences in the mortality rate between piglets originating from sows vaccinated with these vaccines and those from unvaccinated ones were statistically significant (P less than 0.05). No significant differences were noted between controls and animals vaccinated with the remaining vaccines.