At a state-of-the-art symposium, representatives of countries worldwide presented key data relating to the successes and benefits of Vaxxitek in their markets, and a series of video testimonies from veterinarians, hatchery experts and farmers from Ukraine to Greece to Morocco projected on the Merial stand. More conventionally, 18 scientific papers were presented at the Congress, including 11 devoted to IBD + HVT vaccination with Vaxxitek.

Vaxxitek is a Merial vaccine for the hatchery vaccination of broilers, layers and breeders against infectious bursal disease (IBD) and Marek's disease. Vaxxitek is a HVT-vector vaccine carrying the gene of the immunogenic protein of the IBD virus (VP2).

Merial launched Vaxxitek in 2006 in Brazil and since then, in Europe, Middle East and Africa region. To date, it is registered in 40 countries globally – with South Africa being the latest registration in October 2009. More than 4.4 billion birds have now been vaccinated with Vaxxitek worldwide.

Vaxxitek protects against all known classical, variant and very virulent IBD strains. Thanks to its structure, it protects birds from a very early age to the end of their lifespan, preventing the previously unavoidable immunity gap. In layers, antibody levels remain high and stable until at least 56 weeks of age.

Compared with the 'classical' IBD vaccination programmes in broilers, Vaxxitek has been found to improve zootechnical parameters in large-scale field trials performed in different countries. For example, an eight per cent improvement in European Production Index (EPI) was achieved vaccinated broilers in Hungary. In Ukraine, Vaxxitek has improved average daily weight gain by two to three grammes and halved condemnation rates at slaughter (from 0.15 per cent to 0.07 per cent). In Italy, the return on investment represents €29,750 per million birds.

Vaxxitek is also successful in layers: over 70 million birds have already been vaccinated in Brazil, which represents around 45 per cent penetration of Brazil's layer market. In Italy, it has reached around 50 per cent.

Based on field trials Vaxxitek is clearly of benefit to the bird's immune system, enhancing antibody response to Newcastle disease vaccination as opposed to classical IBD vaccines, and just like a classical HVT vaccine, Vaxxitek protects against Marek's disease.

So, in summary, small-scale and field trials have confirmed Vaxxitek's excellent safety and efficacy, whatever the virulence of IBD, whatever route of administration, whatever the type of poultry farming and whatever the level of maternal antibodies – and wherever in the world.