Multi Use (8 Way) Vaccines |
Written by Administrator-GL | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sunday, 02 May 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Multi-Use Vaccines for GoatsAnd How Vaccines WorkWhat IS a Vaccine and How does it Work? What is a Vaccine?Vaccines use a small amount of the organism vaccinating for and this gets injected is generally a non-harmful strain of the virus or bacteria that we are protecting our animals from (live vaccine) or a killed form of the actual wild-type, disease-causing virus or bacteria. The injection may contain live organisms (termed a live vaccine); inactivated organisms, incapable of replicating in the body (termed a killed vaccine) or just little bits of the organisms: specific proteins or sugars (termed antigens) that the immune system will recognise as foreign to the body (vaccines made of bits of an organism are termed a subunit vaccines and are a form of killed vaccine). How does a vaccine work?The mechanism by which vaccination works is complex and involves many chemical and cellular reactions within and between the immune system cells of the body. Basically,
the role of vaccination is to expose the naive immune system (immune system
that has not yet been exposed to the foreign proteins/sugars - termed antigens - contained on
attacking organisms) to viral and bacterial antigens contained within the vaccine
so that, in the future, if the body gets attacked by a related virus / bacteria
the immune system will recognize the antigens contained on these infectious disease
organisms and activate very quickly (within hours as opposed to weeks with an
unvaccinated, inexperienced immune system) to kill them. By having a large, mature immune
response activate more rapidly, the hope is that the invading disease-causing organisms
will be neutralized more quickly (before they get to replicate or invade deep into
the body), thereby resulting in only mild, if any, clinical disease. Vaccine Terminology
Live Vaccines vs Killed Vaccines Pros and Cons
Why it is not recommended to use Multi-valent Clostridial Vaccines ( 7 or 8-way vaccines)(For the vaccination of healthy cattle and sheep against diseases caused by Clostridium chauvoei, Cl. septicum, Cl. novyi Type B, Cl. haemolyticum (known elsewhere as Cl. novyi Type D), Cl. tetani and Cl. perfringens Types C and D. ) While it is usually easier to prevent a disease than to treat it, the use of vaccines in goats has become overwhelming. Because vaccines are used to stimulate the body's defense against what organism you are vaccinating for, by allowing some of the organism to be introduced to the body and allowing the animal's own immune system to build immunity to it in a safe manner , overtaxing the system with too many different organisms at one time will create havoc in the system. The lymph system is what processes the defense against organisms and when too many (as in the case of the 7 or 8 way vaccines) is introduced, the lymph system is overtaxed and refuses to defend itself agaisnt some of the organisms, therefore not protecting the animal against all of the diseases you think you are providing protection from. In the case of very young animals with little to no immune system or in the case of ill goats with lowered immune systems, this can wreak havoc in the system creating more of a problem than what you began with. The use of vaccines with more than two antigens is recently highly discouraged by many veterinarians because not only does it result in poor antibody protection but again , it overworks the immune system by way of the lymphocytes (white blood cells that protect the body against disease and harmful organisms) and when this happens, the lymphocytes become weakened and do not perform as they should due to antigen overload. You are FAR better off to vaccinate seperately for each disease you are targeting (or at least use a vaccine for only 2 diseases such as C&D toxoid (type C and type D of Clostridium Perfringens) and Tetanus. I fyou feel the need to vaccinate for Blackleg , malignant edema, CL, Soremouth, Foot Rot or any other vaccinations, do them all seperately and remember to give one vaccine per side of the animal giving the lymph glands a better chance of distributing the vaccine. |
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Last Updated ( Sunday, 02 May 2010 ) |
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