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It has been suggested that a new syndrome “New Neonatal Porcine Diarrhoea (NNPD)” might be emerging in suckling piglets, since classical agents like enterotoxigenic E. coli (ETEC), C. perfringens (Cp) type C or rotavirus (RV) do not seem to play a significant role. The aim of this study was to make a clinical description of NNPD and to establish which pathogens are associated with NNPD.
The study was carried out in 4 conventional sow herds on piglets suffering from diarrhoea during the first week of life, despite vaccination against ETEC and Cp type C. In each herd, approximately half of the litters in a farrowing-batch were followed from birth and 10 days forward. Litter sizes were adjusted to11-12 piglets by removal of surplus piglets. No cross-fostering was done. For the first 5 days of life, faeces were visually judged as diarrhoeic or normal (rectal swabs taken). All deaths were recorded. At the age of 3-7 days, 51 case-piglets (diarrhoeic for at least 2 days in a row) and 50 control piglets (not diarrhoeic at any day) were selected for necropsy. Intestinal contents were examined for E. coli, Cp and C. difficile (Cd).
In total, 473 piglets (55%) were diarrhoeic at one or more days during the 5 day study-period. The incidence rates varied between 37% and 75% in the 4 herds. Most piglets were diarrhoeic for one day only and typically at the day of birth. Generally, the mortality was low. Only in one herd (herd 1) a significant relation between diarrhoea and mortality was seen. This herd also differed from the others in terms of incidence rate, duration and timing of diarrhoea. Microbiological results confirmed, that the diarrhoea observed in these herds was not related to ETEC, Cp, Cd or RV. Interestingly, Cp type A was detected in significantly more control-piglets than casepiglets and Cd was not detected at all. Further microbiological and histopathological analyses are presently being carried out as part of this study.
H Kongsted, Ø Angen, B Kokotovic, SE Jorsal, JP Nielsen. New neonatal porcine diarrhoea in Denmark - a clinical description. IPVS 2012.
