Explore all the information onSwine 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.
Introduction Pork’s historic position as the world’s most popular meat is no more. 2019 was characterized by the explosion of African Swine Fever in China and subsequent slaughter of approximately half of that country’s pigs, representing about 25% of the world's production. Allowing for this catastrophe the exorable rise in the global consumption of chicken ensured it always going to result in its accession to No.1 spot worlds, but...
This systematic review aimed to assess the effectiveness of pre-harvest interventions to control the main foodborne pathogens in pork in the European Union. A total of 1180 studies were retrieved from PubMed® and Web of Science for 15 pathogens identified as relevant in EFSA's scientific opinion on the public health hazards related to pork (2011). The study selection focused on controlled studies where a cause-effect could be attributed to the interventions tested, and...
The International Pig Veterinary Society (IPVS) will support the 333 Experience Congress, which will be held for the first time in Brazil. The online event will be on November 18th – 19th, 2021.
The program will include nine different panels. On November 19th, from 10 am to 12 pm IPVS2022 will be sharing highly relevant information on African Swine Fever (ASF) in a panel entitled A Global overview of the African Swine Fever, which will be chaired by Fernanda Almeida, and Lia...
Introduction The African swine fever (ASF) virus (ASFV) is deadly to pigs but harmless to humans [1]. ASF is one of the most severe viral diseases affecting pigs worldwide [2-5]. It is considered a “notifiable disease” by the Office International des Epizooties (International Office of Epizootics [OIE] of the World Health Organization because of its high mortality rate of up to 100% [6-8]. ASF causes acute hemorrhagic fever in domestic pigs and often results in...
Introduction Influenza A viruses (IAV) are the causative agents of one of the most important viral respiratory diseases in pigs and humans. Human and swine IAV are prone to interspecies transmission, leading to regular incursions from human to pig and vice versa. This bidirectional transmission of IAV has heavily influenced the evolutionary history of IAV in both species. Interspecies transmission of distinct human seasonal lineages, adaptation followed by...
Introduction Although African swine fever (ASF) was first described almost a century ago, controlling the disease has proven to be a challenge, in particular because no vaccine or treatment are available. Spread of ASF can only be prevented by early detection and the application of strict compliance of classical disease control methods, including surveillance, epidemiological investigation, tracing of pigs, stamping out in infected holdings, strict...
Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS) is a major viral disease of swine with devastating economic consequences to the swine industry. 1,2 Pigs of all ages are susceptible to PRRS virus, with highly variable clinical manifestations in different age groups of infected pigs, ranging from abortion, anorexia, and pyrexia in pregnant sows to respiratory signs, high mortality, and poor growth in young pigs. 3 Several direct and indirect mechanisms have been...
1- INTRODUCTION In 2014, it was first reported that pigs could become infected with porcine epidemic diarrhoea virus (PEDV) following consumption of contaminated feed via natural feeding behaviour (Dee et al., 2014). Since that time, similar observations have been reported for Seneca virus A (SVA), porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) and African swine fever virus (ASFV) (Dee et al., 2020a; Niederwerder et al., 2019,). These and other studies have...
The favorable climate and low initial investment account for the popularity of raising pigs in dirt lots in the southeastern USA. The raising of swine on dirt, however, can pose several problems. One of these problems is that internal parasites (worms) are difficult to control, in particular in lots used over and over for swine. These parasites can cause swine to grow slowly and be unthrifty, and in severe cases can even kill swine. Fortunately, there are various chemical dewormers available...
1. Introduction Increased recognition of the consequences of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in humans and animals has led to monitoring and surveillance programs in many countries, often specific to the species being monitored [1]. They range in complexity from highly structured and regulated systems to those that are passive or reactive. Except for a few species of public health interest such as Salmonella spp. [2], current AMR surveillance for bacterial isolates recovered from...
Introduction Porcine epidemic diarrhea virus is a coronavirus of the alphacoronavirus genus. Identified as a viral agent distinct from transmissible gastroenteritis virus (Wood, 1977) and as a coronavirus (Pensaert and de Bouck, 1978), this virus is responsible for an enteric infection in pigs. Originally identified in England (Wood, 1977), PEDV is now a global pathogen. PEDV was first identified in the United States in 2013 (Stevenson et al., 2013) where it swept through pig...
The characterization of the microbiota diversity inhabiting particular mucosal surfaces or other body sites has been an active topic of research in recent years, due to the involvement in many vital processes. In the gut, the high microbial diversity has the potential to provide metabolic activities that the host lacks. Specifically, the gut microbiota of mammals has been shown to confer health benefits to the host through the production of digestible food components, inhibition and...
Introduction Streptococcus suis (S. suis) is a major porcine pathogen responsible for important economic losses to the swine industry. In fact, it is one of the main causes of bacterial death in post-weaned piglets, from 5 to 10 weeks of age. According to the Canadian Swine Health Information Network, S. suis-related diseases are the most common infectious problem reported in Canadian swine farms. In addition, the Monitoring and Analysis Working...
COMMON PROBLEMS IN BREEDING SOWS The high prolificacy of modern genetic lines provides extraordinary productivity, but at the same time increases the frequency of problems which, if not managed properly, will increase the culling rate. Among the main challenges we can...
Introduction
Toxoplasmosis is an important foodborne disease worldwide. Its public health importance has been largely under-recognized, but recent evidence has shown that Toxoplasma gondii leads to a high burden of disease at global, regional and national level. The World Health Organization ranked toxoplasmosis as number 13th among 31 foodborne diseases globally, also demonstrating regional differences, with for example a relative...
Introduction The controversy that disease was transmitted by invisible life forms stretches back centuries dating to Aristotle (300BC) who believed that all life originated from soil and Virgil (40BC) who believed that bees came from honey and maggots originated from warm meat. It was Spallanzani who showed that no maggots arose from boiled meat while others showed that simple cotton filters could prevent spontaneous generation of life from warm meat. The...
Introduction Parasites have long been neglected but nowadays are becoming more recognized as important foodborne pathogens. Various factors contribute to their undervaluation such as complex lifecycles and transmission routes, prolonged incubation period and chronic disease manifestations. In addition, rapid and sensitive diagnostic assays are not always available and therefore parasite occurrences are often underreported, resulting in low disease...
Introduction
The founding objectives of the IPVS were to provide a forum for exchanging ideas and information concerning pig health and disease, to encourage the formation of pig veterinary societies in all countries and to foster cooperation among them. In 1969, Dr. Tom Alexander chaired the Organizing Committee of the inaugural IPVS congress in Cambridge, UK. Tom embodied and shaped the soul of the IPVS by melding an eminent scientific...
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a global concern, for both animal health and public health. Estimations of the burden of AMR predict that 10 million people will die annually in 2050 when no action is taken now. Many resistant bacteria (or resistance genes) can cross species barriers, and therefore exchange of resistant bacteria and resistance genes between humans, animals and the environment occurs frequently. Most obvious is the transfer of AMR from animals to humans...