Explore all the information on
Swine health
Pig diseases can be caused by bacteria, viruses, protozoa, nutritional deficiencies, poisonous substances, internal and external parasites.
Bacterial diseases include swine erysipelas, swine dysentery, infectious poly-arthritis etc. Viral and mycoplasma diseases include African swine fever, swine influenza, enzootic pneumonia of pigs, vesicular exanthema of swine, transmissible gastroenteritis etc. Helminthiasis as a health problem in pigs is mainly caused by worms like the lungworm, ascaris worm etc. Nutritional diseases include piglet anemia, parakeratosis etc. External parasitic infections include mange, lice, jiggers etc.
How to tell that a pig is in bad health:
General signs: dullness, loss of appetite, labored or rapid breathing, sudden deaths, loss of weight, low weight gain and fever usually manifested by shivering of the pig.
Signs expressed on the skin: reddening of the skin or skin discoloration, loss of hair and hardening of some parts of the skin, itching and cracking of the skin.
Other signs: lameness, cough, abnormal nasal discharges, diarrhea with a putrid smell, abnormal content and color of feces and abortions.
Potassium diformate is a strong acidifier that is released slowly in the digestive tract with high buffering properties, which prevents excessive fluctuations in the acidity of the gastrointestinal tract of animals. Studies have shown that 85% of potassium diformate passes through the pig’s stomach and enters the duodenum in its intact form. The...
Comments : 2
Recommendations: 1
Coccidiosis is a widespread parasitic disease that can seriously harm the livestock industry, especially affecting poultry and swine. This disease causes inflammation of the intestines, slower growth rates, and in severe cases, high mortality. In this article, we will discuss the causes, symptoms, and treatment options for...
Comments : 2
Recommendations: 1
Introduction: Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae(APP) is an important pig pathogen, which is responsible for swine pleuropneumonia, a high contagious respiratory infection. The Apx toxins are species specific and all field strains produce these toxins. Apx toxin is consist of virulence domain A subunit and cell binding domain B subunit. Protein transduction domains (PTD) are small peptides able to carry proteins, peptides, nucleic acid, and nanoparticles, including...
Comments : 0
Recommendations: 0
Introduction: Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) is an economically important animal virus that causes reproductive failure and respiratory track illness in pigs. Current inactivated vaccines have low efficacy and/or complicated time-consuming production procedure requiring application of hazardous reactants such as formaldehyde or binary ethylenimine. Here, we studied the possibility of hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2 ) as a suitable...
Comments : 0
Recommendations: 0
Introduction: Most common influenza A virus (IAV) control measures include sow vaccination using prefarrow, mass or a combination of prefarrow and mass vaccination protocols with either commercial, autogenous or both vaccines. Piglets prior to wean are important in the maintenance of influenza infections in breeding herds as well as in the dissemination of the virus into wean-to-finish facilities. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of sow vaccination...
Comments : 0
Recommendations: 0
Introduction: Ascaris suum is a widespread parasitic nematode that causes infection in fattening pigs. The clinical symptoms are mostly vague and unspecific. Based on the high prevalence of infections with A. suum observed in fattening pigs, the questions arise whether exposure to A. suum mainly occurs in the fattening units or earlier on in farrowing and nursery units and whether serology could be used to detect exposure to A. suum in piglets. To...
Comments : 0
Recommendations: 0
Introduction: Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae is a swine respiratory pathogen that leads to compromised animal welfare and economic losses in finishing pigs. The lung infection can last up to 7 months and infected animals can become asymptomatic carries capable of infecting other pigs. The pathogen is mainly transmitted by direct contact, and vertical transmission is recognized as risk factor for prevalence of M. hyopneumoniae at weaning. It is known that colonized...
Comments : 0
Recommendations: 0
Introduction: Antimicrobials continue to be an effective measure for the control of pleuropneumonia outbreaks in swine. The Italian ministry of health recommends not to systematically use new molecules as first line treatment (Manuale Biosicurezza e uso corretto e razionale degli antibiotici in zootecnia, Sezione suini, 2012). Thus, susceptibility to alternative treatment must be documented. Trimethoprim-sulphonamide (TMP+S) combination is recommended as first choice...
Comments : 0
Recommendations: 0
Introduction: A genetic reassortment of influenza viruses of different hosts is an important mechanism for overcome the species barrier. Therefore the aim of this study was to define the percentage of reassortants and their gene constellation after co-infection of pigs with 2 influenza virus strains of different subtype and origin. Materials and Methods: Six pigs were intranasally inoculated with A/Swine/Gent/172/08 (H3N2) and A/Duck/Italy/1447/05 (H1N1)...
Comments : 0
Recommendations: 0
Introduction: Influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 virus infection although observed in a subclinical form in Norwegian pigs, can lower the pig’s growth performance by reducing feed efficiency in terms of a poorer feed conversion ratio. Infected pigs consume more feed and require protracted production time to reach market weight. Our stochastic models were constructed to simulate the summed negative effects of the infection at the batch level of 150 fattening pigs growing from 33 to 100...
Comments : 0
Recommendations: 0
Mike Tokach (Kansas State University) explains how to remove costs by reviewing amino acids and energy levels, and the close relation between genetics and nutrition, during the Nutrimas workshop....
Comments : 0
Recommendations: 0
Introduction: Viral diarrhea severely damage pig industry, causing tremendous economic loss worldwide, especially during the porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) outbreaks in recent years. The most common viruses causing diarrhea are PEDV, transmissible gastroenteritis virus (TGEV), and porcine rotavirus A (PoRV-A). In the past years, some new viruses like porcine kobuvirus (PKV) and porcine sapovirus (PoSaV) were discovered from pig intestinal contents. It is very difficult...
Comments : 0
Recommendations: 0
Introduction: Oral fluid is convenient sample for monitoring of PRRSV in pig herds. However, due to its nature, it is recommended to maintain cold chain during transport and storage. The aim of the study was to evaluate the impact of storage conditions of oral fluid on sensitivity of real time PCR to detect PRRSV. Materials and Methods: Oral fluid was obtained from a PRRSV-positive farm, transported to the laboratory, and stored at -20°C. The sample was...
Comments : 0
Recommendations: 0
Introduction: Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS) is a devastating viral disease affecting swine industry worldwide. Innate immune response to PRRS virus (PRRSV) infection varies among pig breeds. Elucidating the role of host genetics in the variation of PRRSV vaccine responsiveness may lead to characterize the host immunocompetence and thereby resistance to PRRS. Therefore, the current study aimed to investigate the breed difference in innate immune response to...
Comments : 0
Recommendations: 0
Introduction: Porcine epidemic diarrhea (PED) is a highly contagious disease caused by porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) infection, characterized by watery diarrhea, vomiting, dehydration, and weight loss in swine (1). PEDV has an enveloped, single-stranded, positive-sense RNA genome of ≈28 kb, belongs to the order Nidovirale, the family Coronaviridae, genus Alphacoronavirus (1). PEDV was adapted to serial propagation in Vero cell cultures by adding trypsin to...
Comments : 0
Recommendations: 0
Introduction: The object was to determine if Zoetis’ conditionally licensed PEDV vaccine will enhance immunity in animals that were exposed to wild PEDV virus approximately 18 months prior. Materials and Methods: This project was performed from 7/20-9/8 2015 at a 2,200 sow breed-to-wean site that broke with PEDV in February 2014. The enrolled sows farrowed in August 2015 which is approximately 18 months post-infection. The study’s protocol used...
Comments : 0
Recommendations: 0
Introduction: Porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) and porcine deltacoronavirus (PDCoV) represent new threats to the swine industry. To aid in early detection of virus, monitor shedding, or differentiate viral species, real-time PCR has proven a useful diagnostic tool. The aim of this study was to measure the sensitivity of real-time PCR assays for the detection of PEDV and PDCoV on field samples at different times of the infection. Materials and...
Comments : 0
Recommendations: 0
Introduction: PRRS and CSFV vaccine are both widely used in China. Most of time they will be vaccinated on piglets apart 2 weeks. Studies have shown that vaccinating CSFV vaccine 2 days after PRRS vaccination will reduce CSFV immunity response.From our farm routine antibody monitor program, we found CSFV antibody positive rate always low(< 30%), so we designed to investigate if vaccinated piglets CSFV vaccine 2 weeks after PRRS vaccination still influence CSFV antibody...
Comments : 0
Recommendations: 0
Introduction: Intradermal (i.d.) application of vaccines offers an improved hygienic standard compared to intramuscular (i.m.) injection. While previous studies confirmed similar immune responses in animals vaccinated i.d. and i.m., studies on consequences on animal behaviour are still lacking. Therefore, this study evaluated welfare aspects of i.d. and i.m. vaccination in suckling piglets. Materials and Methods: The study was carried out in three batches in a...
Comments : 0
Recommendations: 0
Introduction: The EU has prohibited the use of gestating crates for pregnant sows. However, keeping pregnant sows in an individual crate is still widely used in Asian countries. As modern type of group housed sows with individual feeding, electronic sow feeding (ESF) system is introduced in EU. However, a few studies were conducted to figure out the long-term and carry-over effects of static group during gestation to lactation on reproductive performance and physical activities...
Comments : 0
Recommendations: 0
