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: PRRS is directly and indirectly an important risk factor for the Porcine Respiratory Disease Complex influencing finishing pig performance. A lot is known from controlled experimental studies. However, studies under practical circumstances about the influences of various pathogens on finishing pig performance are scarce. Materials and Methods: In total 815 pigs were individually followed from birth (December 2012-January 2013) until slaughter...
Introduction: A porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS) restriction fragment length polymorphism pattern of 1-7-4 emerged in North Carolina in 2014. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of PRRS 1-7-4 in previously positive sow herds versus naïve sow herds using sow performance data. Materials and Methods: Sixteen sow farms diagnosed with PRRS 1-7-4 over a 10-week period during spring 2015 were selected. Prior to PRRS 1-7-4...
Introduction: Portugal is a country in south-west Europe where PRRSv strains affecting swine are mainly from the European type. Most of PRRS vaccines used have European strains. During late 2014 and 2015, we recorded 18 new cases of confirmed American type PRRSv (AS-PRRS), in farms previously positive for European type PRRSv (EU-PRRS) and vaccinated against European strains. All affected farms showed reproductive symptoms in sows and respiratory symptoms in nursery and...
Introduction: Porcine circovirus type 2 (PCV2) and co-infection with Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae (M.hyo) plays a primary role in the porcine respiratory disease complex. Acute phase proteins (APPs) have been proposed as suitable veterinary biomarkers to monitor welfare, and inflammatory response. In addition, C-reactive protein (CRP) has recently been postulated as a potential biomarker use for vaccine safety studies and the measurement of haptoglobin (Hp) may be...
Introduction: PCV2 infections can play an important role in swine respiratory disease. A feasible way of screening for PCV2 infections at herd level is cross-sectional blood sampling and qPCR analysis on pools of serum samples. The present study describes the results from VirusCheck, a service tool that includes herd information and serological investigation for PCV2. Materials and Methods: For each herd (n=146), blood samples were collected from pigs...
Introduction: Ascaris suum infections remain an important threat to the pig industry. A number of studies have been done in the last years regarding diagnosis, treatment and control. The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of A. suum in Belgium and to identify associations with farm management practices. Materials and Methods: Between January 2013 and December 2015, 162 commercial pig herds in Belgium were randomly selected...
Introduction: Haemophilus parasuis is regularly involved in fibrinous inflammation in pigs, especially relevant for pneumonia, serositis, arthritis, meningitis and pericarditis. As a worst case, SPF herds can suffer from Glässer’s disease after acute outbreaks in naïve animals. However, commensalism seems much more common than primary disease and it is hard to differentiate between strains of high and low virulence. The aim of the present survey...
Introduction: A considerable number of modern pig herds suffer from problems with postpartum dysgalactia syndrome (PDS). PDS is a syndrome with a complex pathophysiology and several risk factors involved, thus the proper prophylaxis and diagnosis is difficult. During last years an increase of interest in porcine acute phase proteins (APP) and cytokines regarding their potential use as biomarkers has been observed. However, the knowledge about their serum concentrations during...
Introduction: In 2010, three outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) occurred in South Korea. Among these outbreaks, the largest occurred from November 2010 to April 2011 and induced 153 total cases occurring in both cattle and pigs. During this outbreak, a nationwide vaccination policy was enforced and carried out in susceptible animals, including pigs. However, local reactions at the injection site were present after vaccination. Even now, these local reactions are...
Brief project summary Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS) is a virus that greatly affects the swine industry and is the leading cause of economic losses of this industry in Canada (Rosendal et al., 2014; Schweer et al., 2016). This is due to increase mortality and major declines in growth performance of affected animals (Schweer et al., 2017). Thus, strategies to mitigate the impacts of PRRS are necessary to ensure the profitability and sustainability of the swine...
A. COMMON STRESSORS IN SWINE FARMING B. FACTORS LEADING TO STRESS IN SWINE C. PHASE WISE THERMONEUTRAL ZONA ...
Introduction: The objective of this study was to investigate the efficacy of two combinations of vaccines against PCV2 and Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae ( M hyo ) under Brazilian field conditions. Materials and Methods: This study was performed in a farrow-to-finish farm located in Minas-Gerais province, with a history of clinical PCVD and enzootic pneumonia during growing/finishing, and lack of homogeneity at slaughter time. A group of 896...
Introduction: Swine erysipelas (SE) is one of the diseases of greatest prevalence and economic importance in pork production. A protective role of specific antibodies against Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae, the causative agent of SE, has long been suggested. Mass vaccination against SE is the most commonly used approach to control SE, which relies heavily on the development of a strong herd immunity. Despite the efficacy of existing vaccines, inadequate...
Introduction The Porcine Respiratory Complex (PRC) is one of the most relevant pathologies in intensive pig production; It has a significant impact on the technical, economic and health indicators of farms. Due to its multifactorial nature, involving viral and bacterial pathogens...
Introduction: The primary function of meat inspection is the protection of public health. However, there are little data available with primary relevance to animal health or welfare. Carcass tail lesions have potential as ‘iceberg’ indicators of pig health and welfare on farm. The aim of this study was to assess the relationships between tail lesions and viscera condemnations in an Irish abattoir. Materials and Methods: The following data were...
I have a sow in its second month of pregnancy who ate well the 60 first days, but now everything changes, and it doesn´t want to eat anything,and when it drinks water then it vomits with a yellow colour and with a strong smell. We gave it antibiotics to stop the pain but we had no luck. We are desesperated since 8 days has passed by in the same situation. What do you think? ...
Introduction: Lawsonia intracellularis (L.i.) is the causative agent of porcine proliferative enteropathy (PPE). PPE is a relevant economic enteric disease that causes diarrhea and reduces weight gain in growing pigs (1). The subclinical form produces as well a negative impact on performance and farm economics. L.i is endemic in most of the Spanish farms (2). The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of Enterisol® Ileitis (Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica...
Introduction: Salmonella Typhimurium and its monophasic variant (S. Typhimurium 1, 4, [5], 12:i-) are increasingly responsible of food borne infections in humans and pork represents the principal source of infection. Infection is generally sub-clinical in pigs and carrier pigs could introduce bacteria in the slaughterhouse. The aim of the study was to test the efficacy and safety of an attenuated vaccine of S. Typhimurium 1, 4, [5], 12:i- (S. Typhimurium Monophasic...
Introduction: Aujeszky’s disease (AD) virus causes nervous disorders and high mortality rates in young animals and respiratory illness in older pigs. The main aim of this study was an estimation of the role of AD virus in PRDC in finishing pigs and the influence of pig vaccination against AD on lung protection. Materials and Methods: The study was conducted in a Russian large farrow-to-finish production system (17,000 sows) where all four farms of the...
Introduction: Measuring the level of PCV2 virus and/or the level of IgG/IgM in blood samples can be used to assess if pigs are infected or not during the later stages of fattening. The purpose of this case study was to investigate if PCV2-virus is detected or serologically active in fattening herds with pigs vaccinated at 4 weeks (± 7 days) of age with Porcilis® PCV, CircoFLEX, Circovac or Suvaxyn PCV. Materials and Methods: In seventeen herds...