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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.
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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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Growth performance of pigs (6-25 kg) fed diets supplemented with DL-methionine or liquid MHA-FA under commercial conditions in Mexico
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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...
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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...
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Toxicity of different Fusarium mycotoxins on growth performance, immune responses and efficacy of a mycotoxin degrading enzyme in pigs (Extract)
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Don Giesting (Cargill) discussed the combined effects of mycotoxins on animal health, during this Swine It interview with host Laura Greiner....
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Introduction: Increased litter sizes due to hyper prolific sows have led to litters with up to 30% of piglets being born with signs of intra-uterine growth restriction (IUGR). IUGR piglets have lower survival rates and are more likely to have empty stomachs at 24 hours. In addition, it is estimated that IUGR piglets can only consume 100 g of the recommended 250 g of colostrum within the first 24 hours. The gastric emptying rate of these piglets might influence their...
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Introduction: Postweaning multisystemic wasting syndrome (PMWS) is still one of the major economic problems for the pig industry. To confirm PMWS, it is necessary to fulfil the following diagnostic criteria: 1) specific clinical and necropsy findings; 2) specific histologic lesion and 3) presence of moderate to significant amount of PCV2 by immunohistochemistry (IHC) or in situ hybridization (ISH). The fact that the virus is ubiquitous in pig populations worldwide,...
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Introduction: Vesicular disease has been described recently in Brazil and was associated to Seneca Valley virus (SVV). The clinical presentations were characterized by vesicular lesions in sows and acute losses of neonatal piglets. SVV has been identified in swine herds from United States, Canada, Australia, Italy, China and New Zealand. Few reports in Brazil characterized the virus circulating in outbreaks in the country and performed the phylogenetic analysis to better...
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Introduction: Effects of 5 to 150 ppm gaseous ammonia onto respiratory health and production data in pigs have been described in literature with varying results. Ammonia is known to cause oxidative stress in epithelial cells, to irritate nociceptors and to disturb the mucocillary clearance. In addition, a pH-shift within the epithelial lining fluid covering the airways with the consequence of an efficacy loss of pH-dependent natural antibacterial peptides is assumed. In...
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Introduction: Bovine Viral Diarrhea Virus (BVDV) has cattle as natural hosts, but it can infect other animals, such as sheep, goat and swine. Once infected, pigs usually do not present clinical signals of infection, which can leads to a silence viral dissemination among animals. Furthermore, the transmission of BVDV between pigs and ruminants requires direct or indirect contact, but virus transmission among pigs remains unknown. Thus, the aim of this work was to evaluate the...
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Growth performance of pigs (6-25 kg) fed diets supplemented with DL-methionine or liquid MHA-FA under commercial conditions in Mexico
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Introduction: This study examined the effects of feeding Bacillus subtilis C-3102 (Calsporin® Calpis Co. Ltd., Japan) at the target inclusion rates of 0 CFU/g, 500 000 CFU/g and 1 000 000 CFU/g on intestinal health in weaned pigs after challenge with Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea virus (PEDv). Materials and Methods: A two by three factorial design composed of three diets containing 0 CFU/g or 500 000 CFU/g or 1 000 000 CFU/g of Calsporin® and PEDv...
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Introduction: Porcine circovirus type 2 (PCV2) infections in pigs is a major challenge for the swine industry as it causes significant production and economic losses to producers worldwide. Timely detection of PCV2 in herds is important in order to minimize the spread of infection and reduce economic losses. Current diagnostic methods such as ELISA and PCR are not suitable for field use because of the need for expensive equipment, trained technicians, and a specialized...
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Toxicity of different Fusarium mycotoxins on growth performance, immune responses and efficacy of a mycotoxin degrading enzyme in pigs (Extract)
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Introduction: Porcine circovirus type 2 (PCV-2) is the causal agent of the post weaning multisystemic wasting syndrome (PWMS). This virus is different from PCV-1 that is non-pathogenic. Globally PCV-2 strains are classified in two genogroups: a and b. PCV genome contains two major ORF that encode Rep and Rep’ proteins associated to the viral replication and the capsid protein (Cap) that is the unique structural component of the virus. The Capsid protein of...
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Introduction: Parvoviruses have been circulating in the global pig population for some time. So far, six porcine parvoviruses have been described in pigs including the classical PPV1 commonly associated with reproductive failure in breeding herds and newly recognized PPV2, PPV3, PPV4, PPV5 and PPV6. An association of porcine circovirus type 2 (PCV2) and PPV1 (also known as the classical PPV) or the PPV2 with porcine circovirus associated disease (PCVAD) has been established. The...
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Introduction: Cooperation and joint technical knowledge of vets and farm managers (experts) are needed for effective pig farming. They have a real influence on production indices and on manifestation and predisposing factors of Porcine Respiratory Disease Complex (PRDC). At the same time the ineffective farm management is responsible for imprudent overuse of antibiotics and economic losses. In this study we surveyed Hungarian, Czech and Slovak swine farm experts’ opinion...
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Introduction: Preweaning mortality of piglets remains a welfare as well as an economic concern in commercial swine herds. Post mortem examination can give insight in specific preventive measures. Materials and Methods: A thorough investigation of preweaning piglet mortality was conducted in 14 loose housed Norwegian piglet producing herds. All dead piglets from one batch of sows in each herd, in total 1216 piglets from 378 sows, were collected for...
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Introduction: Claw lesions in piglets are common. The neonatal claw is sensible for factors such as floor temperature and roughness, and possible residuals from disinfectants. Also selenium (Se) intoxication and ergot alkaloids have been related to claw lesions. The present case describes the occurrence of hemorrhagic claw lesions in neonatal piglets of a commercial farrow-to-finish pig herd in Flanders. Materials and Methods: The herd consisted of 270 JSR...
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Introduction: Vaccination against circovirus type 2 (PCV2) and Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae ( M.hyo ) is done round weaning, which is one of the most stressful events in the pig’s life. Therefore, vaccination should not contribute to compromised well-being to this new situation. Acute phase proteins (APPs) have been proposed as suitable biomarkers to monitor stress, for detection of inflammation and for monitoring the well-being of pigs. The aims of this study...
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