Research Projects

Classical swine fever is a significant disease affecting pigs in India, with organized farms only vaccinating for control. Stray free-roaming backyard and wild boars remain unvaccinated due to their difficulty in restraint for injections. To prevent the spread of the disease, an oral bait vaccine is proposed, which is currently unavailable in India. This vaccine would not only benefit unorganized pigs but also make vaccination of farm pigs easier without restraining them, which requires trained manpower for injections. A cell culture CSF vaccine virus with high titre is ideal for developing an oral vaccine, as it requires higher doses than injectable vaccines. A pilot study optimized a liquid vaccine dose that induces protective immunity in pigs when applied orally. The proposed method aims to improve bait-acceptability, storage, and delivery efficiency by using different bait forms and vaccine viruses.