Articles - Pig health

A cough outbreak appeared in 8-9 weeks old piglets. It apparently was a "normal" outbreak that could be solved with a few days of antibiotic but the pigs did not respond to the treatment.

PCV2 can be shed into semen by infected boars and research suggests that the virus can then be transmitted to gilts and sows by AI causing reproductive failure but there is no evidence that PCV2 in semen has effects on various characteristics of sperm cells.

This study demonstrates the added profitability that air filtration can give to sow farms located in highly dense swine regions. However, it is important to point out that these figures are long term averages and not necessarily predictors for individual herds.

More than half of the pig population is housed in only one region with a very high pig density and it is very likely that elimination would only be possible with the help of a mandatory national program supported by the EU.

The pen and farm charts indicated a rapid jump to 40 % mortality in several finisher sheds over one to 2 weeks.

Genomic changes can be associated with increased virulence or decreased immunogenicity.

Surveillance includes the gathering, recording and analysis of data as well as the dissemination of information to interested parties so that actions can be taken to control disease.

The desired result of the strategic management of replacement gilts at a company level is to minimize the economical losses potentially caused by PRRS.

The litter size of the recent and the last farrowing batches was significantly reduced, and the suckling pigs showed an obvious varying weight, condition and viability.

The PCV2 has been associated, in an ongoing way and throughout time, with more pathologies called, collectively, diseases associated with the PCV2 (PCVDs): PCV2 systemic disease, PCV2 lung disease, PCV2 enteric disease, PCV2 reproductive disease,PCV2 subclinical infection and porcine dermatitis and nephropaty syndrome.

Novelties about the excretion routes, the transmission routes, the risk factors, etc., and explanation about how the PCV2 becomes a pathogenic virus.

Among the numerous genetically distinct isolates that are identified in high pig density areas every year, only a few are able to be transmitted between herds and even less able to widely spread and dominate the entire region or system.

In a factory farm located in Mexico an increase in the mortality in the farrowing quarters was seen, and this coincides with temperature and relative humidity increases.

The nervous system symptomatology is characterized by some cases of meningitis and opistothonus, dizziness and serious deep depression in a great number of animals. The necropsy shows, in all the cases, a serious lung congestion and an enteritis with a variable seriousness with a more or less important involvement of the mesenteric lymph nodes.

The most effective way of avoiding the production losses associated with the PCV2 consists in avoiding the appearance of the viraemia by inducing a passive or an active immunity that minimizes the circulation of the virus in the farm.

There are 3 potential options to stabilize BTW herds following an outbreak that have all proven successful over time. They have very different cost and risk profiles and a through economic assessment is needed to determine what the best course of action is for each new outbreak.

This case describes an acute outbreak of gastric ulcers in pigs of 30-40 kg live weight that affected 38 farms throughout a year and that presented mortalities from a 5% up to a 40% depending on the severity of the cases.

This study, based on some 120,000 sows, quantifies the reduction of the risk of introducing PRRS viruses when using air filtering.

After the banning of antibiotics as growth promoters, there was an increase in their total consumption due to the therapeutics treatments...

The European Commission is reviewing and consulting how antimicrobials are used in veterinary medicine following the release of their 12 point programme in 2011. Present and future situation of antimicrobial use in the European Community is analysed.

How do we determine clinical significance? One way is to evaluate how many individuals need to be treated in order to obtain one more favorable outcome. This is the concept behind Number Needed to Treat (NNT).

It was developed in USA as a way to improve communication of what needed to be done to improve the chances of success in stabilizing and managing breeding herds.

The pig farm management team in charge of the post-weaned piglet nursery areas on these wean-to-finish sites has found serious problems with diarrhoea in recent batches of piglets arriving from the breeding farms.

Interventions can only reduce but not eradicate Salmonella from the herd. This emphasises the importance of trying to avoid introduction especially Salmonella Typhimurium or Salmonella Derby.