Chapter 8 Control of intestinal diseases by dietary supplementation with antibodies

The chapter discusses the control of intestinal diseases by dietary supplementation with antibodies. This chapter presents the most important principles of prophylactic and therapeutic, and oral application of immunoglobulins. Because of the production conditions today about 20–40% of newborn farm animals (cattle, pigs, horses, goats, sheep) exhibit failure of passive transfer (FPT). The direct consequence of this is an increased susceptibility to diseases during the first weeks of life, which necessitates the wide use of antibiotics. As a further consequence, an increasing antibiotic-resistance of diarrheal strains of bacteria has become a fact. An alternative to using antibiotic is oral application of immunoglobulin products in the periods of greatest risk that is within the first days of life and in the postweaning period. Air-dried egg yolk immunoglobulin (IgY), cow colostrum and swine serum, which can be produced on a large scale, provide the greatest chance for mass application. The most important protective role is played by specific antibodies against antigens present in the neonate's environment. The chapter discusses application of xenogenic antibodies. There are several indications for the application of cow colostrum to foals, lambs and kids, such as lack of, or low quality of maternal colostrum, mastitis, twins or multiple fetuses, and so on. Serum produced from the blood of slaughtered swine allows the large-scale production of immunoglobulins. An important problem with oral administration is proteolysis of the immunoglobulins by digestive enzymes, while another problem is caused by inactivation of antibody activity because of low pH.