Comparison of antibody response between intradermal and intramuscular administration of a foot-and-mounth disease vaccine in pigs

Since the 2010 foot and mouth (FMD) epidemic, the Korean government has applied a FMD vaccination to pigs. A FMD vaccine is injected to pigs by intramuscular (IM) route. One of the drawbacks in FMD vaccine IM injection is that it would result in an abnormal meat on the injection spot. An abnormal meat due to FMD vaccine IM injection would cause economic loss to pig farmers. An intradermal (ID) injection would be an alternative method for FMD vaccination. The goal of current study was to compare the antibody formation rate between FMD vaccine IM injection and ID injection. The antibody formation rate was measured by the FMD serotype O vaccination percent inhibition (PI) value. In total 350 pigs (175 for FMD vaccine IM injection and 175 for FMD vaccine ID injection) were included in the study. In results, the PI values of FMD vaccine IM injection group were significantly higher than it of FMD vaccine ID injection group. However, the proportions of pigs with PI value was higher than 50, which is a legislative requirement for marketing pigs, for both FMD vaccine IM and ID injection groups at week 20 or 23 were not significantly different. The current results indicated that a FMD vaccine ID injection could be an alternative method of IM injection.