Page 3 of articles about diarrhoea

To diagnose E. coli scours we must rule out all other causative agents of early nursery scours, including TGE, PEDv, PDCoV, Rotavirus, and Salmonellosis, and get a positive E. coli culture from piglet rectal swabs.

Achieving good levels of colostral immunity by vaccinating sows is the first step to prevent scours; subsequently, active pre or post-weaning immunization must be added to prevent post-weaning diarrhoea.

Oedema disease prevention has traditionally been accomplished through the administration of antibiotics or manipulation of gut microbiota through diet. However, in recent years, many vaccines have been developed to prevent clinical manifestation of the disease.

It appears that the use of non-toxigenic C. difficile as a probiotic can reduce the severity of histologic lesions and the quantity of toxins detected in neonatal piglets.

Diarrhoea is their most typical clinical manifestation, and the earlier the onset, the more harmful it is. Newborn piglets can present with another clinical picture, with signs of sepsis (shock, depression, death, polyarthritis), which is associated with an extraintestinal E. coli.

Management factors and environmental conditions are often triggers or predisposing agents, not only to the clinical presentation of the disease, but also its severity and course.

At autopsy, haemorrhagic enterocolitis with mucosal oedema, enlarged spleen and haemorrhagic mesentery were observed.

Single animal treatment or batch medication? in any case, the treatment and choice of medication should be done based on resistance testing.

Enric Marco sums up the essential points to control post-weaning diarrhoea in our farm.

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.