Hyderabad: One of India’s leading vaccine company, Indian Immunologicals Limited (IIL) has launched the India’s first “nasal vaccine against dreaded Parvo virus” for dogs. Branded as MEGAVAC-P NASAL, the vaccine will protect pups as young as 4-6 weeks old.
MEGAVAC-P NASAL is an intranasal vaccine containing live attenuated canine Parvovirus grown in cell culture. Hitherto only an injectable vaccine was available for vaccination against Parvo virus.
Speaking on the occasion of launch of the vaccine, Dr K Anand Kumar, MD, IIL informed that – “IIL through its research is constantly looking forward to developing products with alternate delivery mechanisms that will enhance safety, efficacy and more importantly customer convenience and ease of administration.”
Canine parvovirus (CPV) infection in dogs has been associated with outbreaks of acute gastroenteritis characterized by bloody diarrhoea, vomiting, depression, leukopenia, pyrexia, dehydration, with very high mortality rate. Puppies below 6 months of age are severely affected and adult dogs having inadequate immunity suffer from the disease. Interference of maternal antibodies, long survival rate of the virus in the environment, high infectious /contagious nature of the virus and susceptibility of the pups and weak animals are the factors that propagate the disease. Contaminated surroundings especially in kennels make it a difficult disease to control. Mortality rates are very high in affected dogs. Effective immunization is essential for the protection of the individual pet and the decrease of virus population. Live attenuated vaccines are currently used worldwide affording prolonged immunity that would confer protection against disease.
Above 10% of adult dogs suffer from Parvo, more than 30% dogs between 4-6 months of age and more than 55% for pups less than 3 months age. This is more prevalent in stray dogs. India has above 30 million dog population which includes an estimated 10 million pets. Hence Parvo is a serious disease in canines.
