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Taking into account that Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae (M.hyo) is the primary pathogen of enzootic pneumonia, infections with M.hyo are highly prevalent in almost all swine-producing areas and the disease causes major economic losses, it has been demonstrated by several research groups that infections with M.hyo may already occur starting from 3 weeks of age and recent studies have shown that tracheo-bronchial swabs may be 3.5 to 4.5 times more sensitive for the detection of M.hyo than nasal swabs, the aim of the present study was to estimate the detection rate of M.hyo infections in European piglets around weaning age by the use of tracheo-bronchial swabs.
The study started in January 2011 and to date, 150 pig herds in Belgium, France, Germany, Italy,
the Netherlands, Portugal, and Spain were included. In each herd, tracheo-bronchial swabs were collected from 3- to 5-weeks old piglets and tested for the presence of M.hyo, using PCR. To date, 64 out of the 150 tested herds (42.7%) and 175 out of the 3118 tested piglets (5.6%) tested positive for M.hyo. The minimum within-herd detection rate was 0.0% and the maximum within-herd detection rate was 90.0%.
In conclusion, the present study confirmed that 3- to 5-weeks-old piglets may already be infected with M.hyo.
Labarque G. and Trindade J. Prevalence of Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae infections at weaning age in European pig herds. 4th European Symposium of Porcine Health Management. 2012.
