How to support the immune system

We can also use a potentiator to increase the level of the vaccine response, resulting in a higher level of antibodies. A good potentiator, interesting to be used around a vaccination, is Safmannan®.

Safmannan®, a premium yeast fraction, supplied by Phileo, contains β-glucans and mannans which activate different receptors (dectins, TLRs, Galectins) at the surface of important immune cells (dentritic cells and macrophages). This interaction enables a faster reaction of the adaptive immune system against a pathogen or a vaccine (whichisin fact an attenuated pathogen).

Resulting, for instance, in a higher vaccine response on birds vaccinated against Newcastle disease (see graph 1). Several trials have demonstrated this effect. Gomez-Verduzco et al. vaccinated broilers with a live Newcastle disease vaccine at 10 days. Blood tests were taken 1 and 2 weeks after the vaccination. The serology method used was the Haemagglutination Inhibition test. The group fed with a feed supplemented with Safmannan® showed a significantly higher antibody response 2 weeks after vaccination.

Graph 1: Higher vaccine response on birds with Safmannan® (Gomez-Verduzco et al., 2009)

Another trial was done in 2016 (S. V. Rama Rao et al., unpublished) on broilers challenged with natural heat stress (maximum temperature reaching at least 35°C every day in the shed till 42 days). The birds were vaccinated with a Newcastle live vaccine (La Sota) at 7 and 28 days old (see graph 2).

Graph 2: Higher vaccine response at 42 days on birds with Safmannan® in heat stress conditions (S. V. Rama Rao et al., 2016)

Even in heat stress conditions, a good vaccine response on broilers vaccinated against Newcastle disease was monitored. At 21 days, no difference was shown in the blood samples. The vaccination at day 7 was applied to result in a competitive exclusion against a potential wild virus. At this age, the objective is not to produce a high quantity of antibodies. The booster vaccination at 28 days enables the production of antibodies by the birds in high quantity. At 42 days, tests showed a significant higher antibody level thanks to the incorporation of Safmannan® in the feed.

Helping the adaptive immune system to be more efficacious after vaccination is a specific reaction associated with a non-specific one, called innate immunity. Whatever the pathogen  contaminating the birds, the innate immunity will fight against it with the same defense lines:

1. First defense line: 

2. Second defense line: