title: Effect of the needle-free "intra dermal application of liquids" vaccination on the welfare of pregnant sows.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  In commercial pig production, sows are often vaccinated several times per gestation period, resulting in reduced welfare. This preliminary experiment investigated whether the needle-free IDAL vaccinator improves welfare through reduction of stress markers, improvement of behavioural and health parameters compared to traditional needle-syringe method.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Two treatments (IDAL and NEEDLE) in 6 replicate pens of gestating sows (15 sows per pen) were evaluated using Porcilis® PRRS. The frequency of sows exhibiting an acute fear (or pain) response at the time of injection was significantly lower in the IDAL sows for the four indicators studied (high pitch vocalizations, IDAL = 15.4% vs. NEEDLE = 95.6%,χ2 = 56,P< 0.0001; retreat attempts, IDAL = 2.6% vs. NEEDLE = 56.5%,χ2 = 28,P< 0.0001; turning back, IDAL = 5.1% vs. NEEDLE = 69.6%,χ2 = 36,P< 0.0001; change in behaviour, IDAL = 18% vs. NEEDLE = 95.6%,χ2 = 53,P< 0.001). Sows in the NEEDLE vaccination group had a decreased (P= 0.03) activity the day after vaccination compared to IDAL sows. No significant difference was observed for the other active behaviours and resting postures. Fearful reaction towards the assessor significantly (χ2 = 12,P= 0.001) increased in NEEDLE sows compared to IDAL sows the day after vaccination. At 48 h post-vaccination, IDAL sows tended to have lower blood C-reactive protein levels (IDAL = 21.3 μg/mL vs. NEEDLE = 35.8 μg/mL,P= 0.06) compared to NEEDLE sows. Blood Haptoglobin levels did not differ significantly between treatments 48 h post-vaccination. Chromogranin A tended to show a lower increase after the IDAL treatment, whereas salivary alpha-amylase and salivary cortisol did not differ between treatments when measured 25 min post-vaccination.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These preliminary results support that needle-free intradermal vaccination is a promising strategy to reduce fear and pain reaction of gestating sows during vaccination.
authors.affiliation: School of Veterinary Medicine, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra, Spain.
authors.forename: Déborah
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Temple
authors.affiliation: School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Murcia, 30100 Murcia, Spain.
authors.forename: Damián
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Escribano
authors.affiliation: MSD Animal Health, 37008 Carbajosa de la Sagrada, Salamanca Spain.
authors.forename: Marta
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Jiménez
authors.affiliation: School of Veterinary Medicine, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra, Spain.
authors.forename: Eva
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Mainau
authors.affiliation: School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Murcia, 30100 Murcia, Spain.
authors.forename: José J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Cerón
authors.affiliation: School of Veterinary Medicine, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra, Spain.
authors.forename: Xavier
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Manteca
keywords: Behaviour; Intradermal vaccination; Sows; Welfare