New Ideas Discussed at WVPA

At the World Poultry Veterinary Association (WVPA) congress in Cancun in Mexico this week, there has been much talk of the so-called 'protectotype concept' in vaccination, writes Chris Wright, senior editor, representing ThePoultrySite.

Vaccination has been one of the key topics discussed at this convention, an event that has attracted an estimated 800 poultry veterinarians from 50 countries all over the world. The protectotype concept is a fairly new idea, which is replacing the serotype vaccination concept – the standard operating procedure for the industry.

Instead of trying to protect against all the variants of the different diseases, and trying to keep up with genetic drift, the idea now is to find combinations of vaccines that will solve the problem.

If only one type of vaccine was given (one serotype) and it is found to not protect the birds very well, the latest idea is to add vaccines of different serotypes to the rotation to solve the problem.

It is the vaccine manufacturing companies which are redefining these ideas, and the protectotype concept is the new working model for them. Instead of trying to create new vaccines per serotype, the companies are looking for answers to the disease problems with their existing vaccines, and trying to find the right combinations that will resolve the problems for the producers.

Since there is no 'one solution fits all' to fighting diseases, this approach has to be done on a regional or country basis. The approach taken in Europe would probably not work in the Americas, for example. This is the new concept going into the future.

Hitting the headlines in the last week has been the news that US poultry exports set a record in terms of value for the first half of 2011 of $2.16 billion, 10 per cent above the equivalent figure for last year. The quantity was the third-highest on record, according to trade data released last week by the Foreign Agricultural Service.

USA Poultry and Egg Export Council (USAPEEC) reports that first-half US poultry meat exports increased by two per cent to 1.77 million metric tons.

And finally, several of the world's leading poultry companies have been in the news in the last week, reporting their quarterly results. It is interesting to compare the improving sales and revenues for those firms with businesses in Brazil, Russia and China with those from the US, where one company is cutting back production after recording a loss for the quarter.