Just recently, a group of researchers from the National Veterinary Research Institute in Puławy has identified for the first time BVD virus type 2 in a Polish dairy herd. The virus was found in a dairy farm where severe clinical signs had been observed and newborn calves had died due to bloody diarrhoea. This seems to confirm that the economic impact of a BVDV-2 infection can be more significant than consequences of type 1 infections. Some symptoms in calves were very similar to recent outbreaks of BVDV-2 in the Netherlands. Although the herd had been vaccinated, the used inactivated BVDV-1 vaccine was not able to deliver sufficient protection against the type 2 outbreak.
According to the researchers from Puławy, it is therefore essential to take into account also BVDV type 2 when choosing a BVD vaccine. An innovative vaccine containing both BVD virus type 1 and type 2 is now available also in Poland.
- Polak M, Kuta A, Rybałtowski W, Rola J, Larska M, Żmudziński J: First report of bovine viral diarrhoea virus-2 infection in cattle in Poland. The Veterinary Journal (2014), doi: 10.1016/j.tvjl.2014.09.026.