Efficacy of antiserum produced in goats and pigs to passively protect piglets against virulent transmissible gastroenteritis virus.

Abstract The protective effect of sera produced in swine and goats exposed to virulent transmissible gastroenteritis virus (TGEV) or modified-live TGEV was tested in hysterectomy-derived, colostrum-deprived three-day-old pigs. Pigs were given serum with their daily ration of milk, and their immunity to virulent TGEV was determined. The pigs were observed for ten days for clinical signs of TGEV infection. One of nine pigs receiving goat serum was protected whereas all three pigs receiving three doses of swine serum per day were protected. Because virus was not isolated from the goats after oral/intranasal vaccination, it is suggested the virus did not replicate in either the respiratory or digestive tract of the goat.