GI Disease in Pigs Flashcards
Discuss GI disease in Pigs?
- GI dz very common
- Major economic loss to industry
- Direct –death, treatment
- Indirect –slow-growth, poor performance
- May be infectious or non-infectious
- Viruses, bacteria & protozoa common causes
- Rapid and accurate diagnosis vital
- Diarrhoea is primary clinical sign
- Also: sudden death, vomiting, perineal staining
What can be seen here?
Staining on pigs legs and peri- anal staining clues to GI disease
Describe pre-weaning infections (0-4 weeks old)?
Pre-weaning (0-4wks old)
1. Rotavirus
2. Colibacillosis
3. Coccidiosis –Isosporasuis
4. Clostridialenteritis
5. Corona viruses -TGE- PED -HEV
Describe post-weaning infections (>4 weeks old)?
Post-weaning (> 4ks old)
1. Post-weaning colibacillosis
2. Proliferative Enteropathy –ileitis
3. Spirochaetaldiarrhoea (Colitis)
4. Salmonellosis
5. Brachyspira–swine dysentery
6. Yersiniosis
7. GI torsions
8. Gastric ulcers
9. Parasites –Trichuris, Ascaris, Eimeria(rare)
Discuss Post-weaning colibacillosis
- Common worldwide
- Usually occurs within 10 days after weaning
- E. coli with specific attachment factors and verotoxins– do not cause physical damage
- Watery yellow diarrhoea stimulated by verotoxins
- Pig usually alert and eating
- Often recover OK if treated
What can be seen here?
E. coli disease –watery yellow diarrhoea 7 to 10 days after weaning
Post weaning collibacillosis management/treatment?
- Watery yellow diarrhoea
- Most commonly vaccines given to sows to pass on immunity
- Sow vaccines (gletvax6) –protect piglets
- Piglet vaccines (oral/live –not popular)
- Control with zinc oxide (in-feed, soon to be banned as spreads into watercourse)
- Apramycin, paramomycin, florfenicol (antibiotics not to be used preventably only when disease present)
- Acidification of water
- Diets with lower CP (crude protein) will help – Downside is pigs don’t grow.
- Highly digestible diet, source of lactose, gradual feed change, increased hygiene
- Get lab diagnosis and c+s and toxins
- If shigatoxins present –will be oedema disease not diarrhoea – sudden death
Name all the different manifestations of Porcine Proliferative Enteropathy Complex -Ileitis?
1.Porcine Intestinal Adenopathy (PIA) chronic disease in growers
2. Necrotic Enteritis (NE) young growing pigs
3. Regional Ileitis (RI) chronic watery diarrhoea
4. Proliferative haemaorrhagic enteropathy (PHE) -Acute haemorrhagic disease in finishers and breeders
What is this?
Lawsonia intracellularis
Surveys show very common globally
What are the facts of Ileitis?
Ileitis Facts
- Duration of diarrhoea -3 days to 3 months
- Shedding of Lawsonia
- –90% -only 3 weeks
- –10% -3 to 12 weeks
- Persistent shedders
- Lawsonia viable in faeces for 2 weeks
- Low infectious dose
- Each faecal output can contain 100’s of infective doses –faeco-oral transmission
- Lawsonia easily spreads around a farm (sows/older growers)
- Endemic disease –triggered by diet change/environment; severity dependent on dose
Discuss PIA: PIA -porcine intestinal adenomatosis -chronic and subclinical ileitis?
- Endemic on many farms
- Lesions vary from mild to severe in many herds and situations
- Causes variation in pigs, subclinical and clinical cases
How is PIA diagnosed?
Faeces: PCR (unvalidated)
Post Mortem: ‘Hosepipe’ ileum
Histopathology: pathognomonic – gut degradation can impact diagnosis
What kind of Ileitis is this?
Diarrhoea due to Chronic Ileitis
- 6 to 20 week-old pigs
- Mild to severe
- Brown-grey-green diarrhoea
- Not mucoid
- Non-haemorrhagic in the chronic and sub- clinical forms
- Pigs with weight loss
- Variable growth rates6 to 20 week-old pigs
- Mild to severe
- Brown-grey-green diarrhoea
- Not mucoid
- Non-haemorrhagic in the chronic and sub- clinical forms
- Pigs with weight loss
- Variable growth rates
What has happened here?
PHE - Proliferative haemaorrhagic enteropathy
- Usually young adults –4-12 months
- Sudden deaths
- Blood in faeces
- Anaemic
- Rare
- Twisted gut?
- Tylosin
- Sporadic in nature, rare
What is this?
Ileitis vaccine
- effective but challenging to use (expensive)
- Oral and live –can’t be used alongside AB’s
What effective antibiotics are there for ileitis?
Effective antibiotics include
- Tiamulin, Tylosin, Lincomycin: -may have superior intracellular effect
- no evidence of resistance
Pig challenge and field studies completed –In-feed (chronic) and soluble antibiotics (acute outbreak) have similar efficacy –Good products for treatment of ileitis problems
Introduce swine dystentry?
- Swine dysentery charter (optional)–AHDB (must be reported)
- Caused by the microaerophilic spirochaete Brachyspira hyodysenteriae.
- Causes often severe muco-haemorrhagic colitis usually in growing pigs (6-14 weeks), but can also see disease in sows.
What is this and what does it cause?
Brachyspira hyodysenteriae
Causes swine dysentry
Discuss swine dysentery further?
- An expensive disease with a profound impact on production
- Conservative estimates of 25g/day lost live weight gain and 0.2 FCR (Feed Conversion Rate).
- Mortality can be significant, especially in older pigs
- Medication costs £4-5 per pig
- Total costs £6-10 per pig, equating to £50,000 annually for a 500 sow Farrow to Finish farm.
- Difficult to live with
How is swine dysentery diagnosed?
- Clinical signs and gross post mortem findings +/- histopathology
- Faecal sample
- PCR (16s RNA)
- Culture
- NO USEFUL SEROLOGICAL TEST
Discuss epidemiological problems faced when trying to control swine dysentery?
- Faeco-oral infection but incubation period may be 7-60 days.
- Carriers may remain subclinically infected for up to 90 days.
- Organism can survive in moist faeces for 40 days at 50C and 60 days if diluted in tap water.
- Dry warm conditions kill it more quickly.
- Rapidly killed by disinfectants if used appropriately.
- Mice, rats, dogs, flies and cockroaches have been shown to be able to transmit the organism.
What can be seen here?
Mucoid bloody faeces typical of Brachyspira sp. problems
What can be seen here?
Major effect of Swine Dysentery on breeding pigs
What can be seen here?
Haemorrhages and excess mucus in colon, 18 week old (SD)
What is the treatment for swine dysentery?
- Antimicrobials are mainstay
- Tylosin: Most UK strains are resistant.
- Lincomycin, Tylvalosin: intermediate
- Pleuromutilins(tiamulin) important.
- However: increasing reports of resistance
Discuss Total or partial depopulation eradication programs for swine dysentery?
Medicated Eradication
Partial depopulation : Remove the susceptible (growing ) population and medicate sows
Total Depopulation
Discuss porcine intestinal spirochaetosis (colitis)?
- Non-hyodysenteriae spriochaetes
- Brachyspira pilosicoli
- Epi –same as SD including rodent and dog carriers
- Mostly seen in growers (4-12wks) but occasionally adults
- Colitis and diarrhoea –less severe than SD
- Rarely fatal, reduced DLWG
- Diagnosis –csand culture/PCR (rule out SD)
- Manage as SD, tylosin/lincomycinmay be effective? –often endemic
What can be seen here?
Mucoid sloppy faeces typical of Brachyspira pilosicoli disease
Discuss salmonella in pigs?
- Salmonella Typhimurium is by far the commonest cause of porcine salmonellosis
-
S. derby
- Very common infections in UK pigs but often subclinical
- S. choleraesuis is now very rare in UK
Pathology of salonella in pigs?
Pathology
- Diptheritic typhlocolitis
- Septicaemia
- Later: rectal strictures
What can be seen here?
Diptheritic typhlocolitis
What can be seen here?
Mucin casts
Blood could be SD –rule out!
What can be seen here?
Salmonella enteritis in weaned pigs
Discuss epidemiology of salmonella infection?
- Infectious dose is very important in determining whether clinical disease occurs.
- Concurrent infections can predispose.
- Often ST is multi-drug resistant so antimicrobial treatment (e.g. with amoxycillin) can be a risk factor.
How is Salmonellosis diagnosed?
Diagnosis
- +/-Pyrexia
- Scouring (can be only slide)
- Purple skin discolouration (septicaemia)
- Intestinal casts
- Septicaemicform
- Acute enteritis
- Chronic diarrhoea
* DD: E. coli, PRRS, viral challenge,
How is salmonella treated?
Treatment
- Range of antibiotics can be used (lincospectin, aparamycin, paramomyin)
- C/S important as multiple resistance
- Parenteral tx for ill pigs (non-responsive)
- Can use AB’s in water for sick and in- contacts but care re prudent use
How is salmonella controlled?
- Identify & remove source:
- Rodents are extremely important as a reservoir.
- Mice can multiply ST up very quickly. So control important
- Organic acids in feed/ water (vevovitall)
- Effective C&D between batches, AIAO
- Vaccines? –not very effective, non- licensed in UK
Discuss Yersiniosis?
- Y. pseudotuberculosis - common, but disease rare?
- Enterocolitis
- Watery, dark diarrhoea, mucoid
- Zoonosis –personal hygiene
- Often part of diagnostic packages – culture/PCR
- Control based on hygiene and AIAO measures
Discuss GI torsions in pigs?
Very common in pigs
- -long-length SI volvulus at mesenteric root
- Usually single cases of sudden death
- Can get “outbreaks”
- Grower pigs 8 –12 weeks old
- Eat a lot and jump or step up to feeders and also fighting and rolling
- –Gastric dilation/volvulus in older pigs
* Change of feeds –eat a lot and fighting
Look at these common GI torsions?
Discuss stomach ulcers in pigs?
Stomach ulcers
Common worldwide, <60% growers at slaughter
Ulcer and damage in upper part of pig stomach
A nutrition problem. Not related to human ulcers
Often an incidental finding at slaughter
Caused chiefly by 3 factors:
- Finely ground feed components
- Cessation of feed intake for one day
- Wet fed with whey
Can be secondary to lung infections
Stomach ulcer clinical signs?
Clinical signs:
Sub-acute
- Pale skin
- Weakness
- Breathless
- Vomiting
- Grinding of teeth
- Passing of dark faeces (digested blood)
Acute
- Sudden death
- Very pale carcass
What can be seen here?
- Stomach ulcers in pigs –common
- Can cause no problem or sudden death
Look at this comparison of normal vs ulcerated tissue?
What is the treatment for stomach ulcers?
Treatment
- Move the affected animal from its existing housing into a loose bedded peaceful environment.
- Feed a weaner type diet containing highly digestible materials.
- Inject multi vitamins and in particular vitamin E together with 0.5 to 1g of iron intramuscularly and repeat on a weekly basis.
- Cull affected pigs.
What is the management of stomach ulcers?
Management control and prevention
- Consider the risk factors and their relevance to your situation.
- Make alterations and adjustments accordingly.
List important gut parasites of pigs?
Gastrointestinal worms
- Ascaris suum -large roundworm
- Trichuris suis -large intestine whipworm
- Oesophagostomum sp -nodule worm
- Hyostrongylus rubidus -red stomach worm
- Strongyloides ransomi -intestinal threadworm
Discuss Ascaris Suum?
Ascaris suum = large roundworm
- Large obvious worm 15 to 40 cm
- Small intestine location
- 30 days pre-patent period
- More common in outdoor, organic farms
- Eggs are very resistant = thick shell
- Anthelminthics effective on farm
- Flubendazole, ivermectin
Discuss ascaris suum further?
Ascarissuum = large roundworm
- Contaminated pastures, bedding in sheds
- Need rotation, new bedding
- Economic issue at slaughter –liver, SI
- Loss of income for damaged intestines and liver
- Can also cause respiratory signs
What is this?
Roundworm damage to carcase at slaughter
Ascaris suum
What can be seen here?
Ascaris or “Milk spot” livers at slaughter
Discuss Trichuris Suis?
Trichuris suis = large intestine whipworm
- Whip shaped worm, 3 cm long
- Barrel shaped eggs
- Burrows into the lining of the large intestine
- Weight loss, bloody diarrhoea, anaemia
- Looks like swine dysentery at autopsy –find the worms !
- Anthelminthics-ivermectin
What can be seen here?
Trichuris suis –mucoid colitis
Discuss Oesophagostomum sp.?
- nodule worm
- Common
- Not pathogenic
- Often see nodules in small and large intestine at slaughter and at autopsy
- important not to confuse with real problems
Control of oesopahostomum sp.?
- Indoor/some outdoor –Fenbendazole(top-dressed) for 2 days on entry to farrowing accommodation
- Outdoor –Ivermectinin feed for 7 days 2-4 times/year
- Good hygiene of weaner accommodation
Discuss outbreak management?
History -Ages affected, duration? Treatment?, mortality? •
First aid –TLC, biosecurity, ORT
Equipment –PME, sample bottles, swabs
Visit farm –general appraisal
Clinical examination –sick pigs, T, dehydration?
PME –samples taken as necessary, discuss cost
Immediate tx of surviving pigs
