Articles - Pig health

This article is about the diagnosis of the infection caused by Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae (App) in acute, chronic or subclinical cases.

This case study describes an outbreak in a commercial unit which proved difficult to stop without vaccine. Since 2014 an increasing number of cases of this disease have been reported in Europe though it remains unclear why it has reappeared.

To diagnose E. coli scours we must rule out all other causative agents of early nursery scours, including TGE, PEDv, PDCoV, Rotavirus, and Salmonellosis, and get a positive E. coli culture from piglet rectal swabs.

The prevalence of Mycoplasmal pneumonia and pericarditis lesions was significantly higher in pigs weaned at lower weights compared to their heavier cohorts, despite the provision of a superior production system for the lower weight group.

In the wake of the so-called “swine flu” a European surveillance program was carried out in 2013-2015: H1N1pdm is present in several European countries, and at particularly high prevalence in Britain and Ireland.

The purpose of this study was to compare efficacy of LCE (load-close-expose) using attenuated PRRSV to that using live-virus exposure on breeding herds acutely infected with PRRSv.

How can we expect our livestock to acquire a healthy microbiome when there is such limited exposure to the microbes that they evolved with?

PCV-2 and PRRS are the most common infectious causes of abortions. Most abortions are also found to occur during the colder months, regardless of their cause.

This article explains how E. coli breaks the complex intestinal barrier mechanisms in a comprehensible way.

PED virus has challenged biosecurity programs in North America, the standards of sanitation have risen to a new level to address PEDV. The article deals with the most relevant changes.

The reasons behind the vaccination against influenza virus on a group of fattenig units with recurrent respiratory clinical pictures that belong to an integrated production system are discussed. Impact on production parameters and economic results are also shown.

Achieving good levels of colostral immunity by vaccinating sows is the first step to prevent scours; subsequently, active pre or post-weaning immunization must be added to prevent post-weaning diarrhoea.

PCV2 vaccination is nearly universal. Has viral presence decreased after 6 years of vaccination? Could vaccination policies be changed?

In the coming years, the use of antimicrobials will be more closely regulated, following the guidelines set by the WHO in its global report on antimicrobial resistance in 2014.

Exposure during acclimatization can be considered the first dose of a vaccine, and pre-farrowing exposure its booster.

Oedema disease prevention has traditionally been accomplished through the administration of antibiotics or manipulation of gut microbiota through diet. However, in recent years, many vaccines have been developed to prevent clinical manifestation of the disease.

The farmer, alarmed, calls us describing a clinical picture of abortions in the last third of gestation, weak newborn piglets, stillbirths, mummified piglets, agalactia, sows with fever and small litters.

It appears that the use of non-toxigenic C. difficile as a probiotic can reduce the severity of histologic lesions and the quantity of toxins detected in neonatal piglets.

The economic potential lost in a unit positive to PRRS could be around 35 – 37% of net unit margin.

The recent development of PCR serotyping is a step forward that allows any laboratory to determine the serotype of the isolated H. parasuis strain.

Assessment of a study, by Enric de Marco, on the use of anti-inflammatory drugs in sows at farrowing in order to reduce piglet mortality and increase the weight of piglets at weaning.

Diarrhoea is their most typical clinical manifestation, and the earlier the onset, the more harmful it is. Newborn piglets can present with another clinical picture, with signs of sepsis (shock, depression, death, polyarthritis), which is associated with an extraintestinal E. coli.

In the United States, there are 17 genetic clades that have emerged and persisted following spillover events from non-swine (namely human) hosts and subsequent ecological and evolutionary processes

Management factors and environmental conditions are often triggers or predisposing agents, not only to the clinical presentation of the disease, but also its severity and course.