Page 4 of articles about diarrhoea

The immunomodulatory effect —particularly anti-inflammatory— of phytogenic products added to the diet seems to play a crucial role in addressing intestinal clinical pictures in pigs.

Due to the fact that no known enteropathogen was found in clinically relevant amounts, importance of massive Blastocystis sp. infestation was counted as significant in this case.

In practice, and to have active-acquired antibodies ready at weaning, piglets should be immunised 10 days to 2 weeks before weaning.

An accurate diagnosis is sometimes difficult because of the common occurrence of mixed infections, the compounding effects of environment and nutrition and the difficulties experienced in isolating and identifying all the possible pathogenic agents involved.

The aim of the main nutritional strategies is to ensure a beneficial effect on the digestive flora of piglets and their intestinal health after weaning, thus reducing the risk of colibacillosis.

Interactions between nutritional strategies and prevalence / severity of GI clinical pictures caused by E. coli after weaning.

Recently, PCV2 has been suggested as a pathogen able to induce diarrhoea in pigs, and PCV2-enteric disease (PCV2-ED) as a separate entity within porcine circovirus diseases (PCVDs) has been proposed.

The current situation for PED is that of continual occurrence of moderate to severe outbreaks in many pig farms, across Asia, USA and elsewhere, on both naïve farms and those that have suffered previous episodes.

Post-weaning colibacillosis and oedema disease are common global infection among farmed pigs – these strains of E coli appear to be "embedded" in most pig farms, so elimination is not a current option. Vaccination of sows or gilts with ETEC vaccines has no effect on post-weaning E. coli infections.

This article will focus on clinical signs of some E coli infections: neonatal colibacillosis, post-weaning colibacillosis diarrhoea and oedema disease.

In May 2013 a sow farm in Indiana (USA) broke with PEDv. In mid March 2014, scour were observed in the onsite nursery and finisher. In the subsequent week, PEDv was diagnosed of the same strain (99.9 % homology) and the virus moved into the farrowing house.

The main aspect that cannot be forgotten is the complete approach necessary to evaluate all possibilities. In that sense, samples have to be collected and tested to all possible agents that might cause diarrhea.

The ideal sample for diagnostic of neonatal enteric pathogens is the submission of live piglets.