Reduction in Lesion Incidence in Pork Carcass Using Transdermal Needle-free Injection of Foot-and-Mouth Disease Vaccine

Abstract Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is an infectious disease affecting pigs. The control of FMD in swine husbandry is very important because its outbreak results in a vast economic loss. FMD vaccination has effectively controlled FMD; however, it results in economic loss associated with the incidence of lesions in the pork meat at the injection site. The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of transdermal needle-free injection (NFI) of the FMD vaccine on the incidence of lesions at the injection site. Pigs (n=493) in the control group were vaccinated with the FMD vaccine using a commercial syringe needle, while 492 pigs in the transdermal NFI group received the FMD vaccine using a needle-free gas-powered jet injector. After the slaughter of the pigs, the incidence of lesions at the injection site of all pigs was checked by plant workers. The result of this study showed that the incidence of lesions in the pork ham from pigs vaccinated with NFI was 14.82% lower than that in control pigs (p<0.01). In addition, lesions generated in the NFI group were found just in the subcutaneous tissue. Therefore, the incidence of lesions at the injection site in pork from pigs vaccinated with the FMD vaccine can be effectively reduced by using transdermal NFI rather than a conventional syringe needle.