Page 3 of articles about diarrhoea in Articles

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.

None of the employees on this farm had ever seen TGEv before, but were concerned that is what they were seeing.

Ileitis can take different forms, and it is frequent that a subclinical and a more severe and clinical form coincide.

Control of outbreaks on problem farms in Asia remains an attempt to raise herd immunity by use of live virus feedback material. However, the current outbreaks have shown only transient herd immunity with these programs.

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.

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 losses due to diarrhoea problems appear concentrated, basically, during the first week in the weaners stage, whilst in the farms that have not suffered diarrhoea problems, the mortality is distibuted more evenly.