Articles - Pig health

What factors cause increased mortality and slow-growing piglets in the nursery phase? How can we address these issues?

The end goal of any control program should always be to stop the virus from circulating in the sows in order to create a flow of negative growing pigs.

What laboratory diagnostic methods can I use to diagnose PRRS? Which one should I choose according to the situation? How do I interpret the results?

How and when should I use controlled oral exposure? What are the risks?

The innovative digital biosecurity control system and its application to the objective monitoring of internal biosecurity and on-farm movements.

In the first article of this series, the four specialists shared with us about the increase in neonatal diarrhea problems and explained which were the main causative agents according to their experience. In this article, we will address preventive strategies using vaccination methods.

Dr. Hans Nauwynck, a well-known professor at the University of Ghent, reviews with us the most important findings that he has made in PRRS virus research since it was first discovered 30 years ago.

Pork producers and veterinarians need to be aware that the porcine parvovirus (PPV) has been evolving into new strains.

In the fourth article of our series, we review the opinions from our group of global swine health experts on the potential relationship, if any, between the rise in nursery mortality that some countries have observed over the last few years and antibiotic reduction strategies.

What is the actual effect of pneumonia on the farm's economic performance? What similarity is there between pneumonia and heat stress?

In this third article of our series, our global swine health experts continue sharing their perspectives on successful strategies for the reduction of antibiotics as well as learnings from some of the mistakes made along the way.

We summarize our discussion with Dr. Hans Nauwynck, professor at Ghent University, related to several PRRS hot topics: autovaccines, regional control and elimination, boar studs, and replacement gilts PRRS status.

Biosecurity and prevention measures must take into account that as low as 5 units of ASF virus are enough to produce infection.

What are the most common mistakes when using oral fluid? How to make the most of this diagnostic technique.

In this first article of our series, we will compare and contrast the perspectives of four pig health experts from some of the most important pork producing countries (i.e. USA, Italy, Denmark and Spain) on antibiotic reduction strategies for pig farms.

The three most important things in respect to a PRRSV control program are: 1) planning; 2) planning and 3) planning; and the success of the program depends also on three important factors: 1) people; 2) people and 3) people!

Traditional surveillance protocols for Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae should not become a tradition. In this article, the authors give us their field-based research approach for an updated surveillance protocol with increased diagnostic accuracy.

With the ever-present risk of further ASF spread, compartmentalization offers an attractive alternative to zoning as an option for swine producers to ensure business continuity and sustained trade in the face of ASF.

In this series of articles about internal biosecurity we will review McRebel and other strategies that we perform to control the movement of pathogens within the farm as we complete our daily work

Dr. Nauwynck reviews with us the main gaps in PRRSV research and how he envisions the future of this disease regarding diagnostic technologies and vaccination strategies.

M. hyopneumoniae is involved in most of the co-infections of the porcine respiratory system. How does it act and what effects does it have?

We are finding more evidence of the possible role PCV-3 plays in certain reproductive problems.