Porcine Pathology Flashcards
Overfeeding of sow in gestation
- Constipation
- Predisposes to mastitis, metritis + agalactia
Farrowing complications
- Over-sized, oedematous +/- emphysematous piglet
- Needing to void bladder
- Uterine torsion - cannot correct due to long uterine horns, euth sow, recover piglets
- Uterine tear
- Prolonged farrowing
- Sick sow/dead piglets
- Retained piglet = sow paddling leg
- Metritis + endometritis
- Normal + abnormal discharges
Piglets born dead (BD)
- <10% total born, meconium staining, lungs fail to float, ‘slippers’
- Older sows
- Overfat sows
- Slow farrowings
- Excessive or inadequate manual interference
- Nervous/agitated mothers (esp gilts)
- Last piglets born
- Low birth weights
- Stress during early preg/implantation
- Disease - Leptospirosis, Parvovirus, Chlamydia, PRRS, Aujezsky’s disease
- Ill sow
- Delayed or prolonged parturition
Mummified piglets
- <2% total born
- External cause - mycotoxins
- Disease - inc in irregular returns, inc % mummified, early farrowing -> non-viable, inc NIPs (not in pig) at farrowing/empty sow
- PRRS
- Parvovirus
- Aujesky’s disease
- Mycotoxin challenge
Colostrum importance
- AB
- Cell-mediated immunity
- Hormones, GFs -> weight gain when matures
- Food = heat
- Vit A, D, E
- Laxative
- Induces pH in stomach, changing pepsinogen to pepsin
Piglets pre-disposed to disease
- Small size/large SA -> lose heat fast
- Lack of brown fat (no internal heat source)
- Little surface fat + no hair (no insulation)
- Born wet w/ birth fluids -> further chilling
Poor intakes of colostrum
- Low birth weights
- Insufficient working teats
- Stressed sow/gilt - won’t want to lie down
- Mastitis
- Chilling - too cold to move
- Cross-fostering before first suckle
- Management interventions performed too early e.g. teeth + tail
Farrowing fever
- MMA = mastitis, metritis + agalactia syndrome
- Partially created by man
- Common in smallholders
- Sow over-conditioned before farrowing then at farrowing will be off food
- Sow goes off food; may have mastitis +/- metritis + vag discharge: +/- hungry piglets
Fostering
- If teat low/non-func, piglet growth reduced/dies > 5 d
- Move before piglet is too disadvantaged
Savaging
- Nervous mother
- Often first parity gilt
- Noisy farrowing house
- Large piglets being born
- Associated w/ pain of farrowing + squealing of piglets
Sow shoulder sores
- Lesions -> bony swelling of shoulder blade, more susceptible next farrowing
- Thin sows
- Rough floors/slats
Sow not eating at farrowing
- Mastitis
- Pyrexic
- Faecal colour + consistency - ulceration, constipation
- Other CS of illness
- Vag discharge - metritis?
- Piglet condition
Weaning mortality
- 50% overlays - sow crushing piglets to death
- 25% starvation
25% other - Lame
- Scour
- Streptococcal meningitis
- Congenital deformities
- Epidemic tremor
- Savaging
Overlays
- Too cold - piglets won’t move to eat
- Poor colostrum intake
- Excess hot sow restless
- Farrowing crate too small/oversized sow
- Sow - uncomfortable/stressed/lame/shoulder sores
- Piglets hungry e.g. sow w/ mastitis - piglets always around sow
- 2y to something else e.g. lame/weak piglet not moving fast enough when sow lies down
Starvation of piglets
- Piglet moves from teat to teat in first few days then establishes on one teat, even if non-func, starvation seen from 5 d
- Mastitis in previous lactation
- Insufficient teats
- Blind teats
- Inverted nipples
- Trauma
(Runt = born small - litter size, birth weights
Starvation = normal size at birth, but then fades, especially from day 5 onward)
Blind teats
- Piglets born onto rough concrete get rubbed nipples
- Teats no longer func
Piglet diseases
- Overlays
- Starvation
- Congenital deformities
- Scour, neonatal + later
- Lameness
- Joint ill
- Nervous signs/meningitis
- Resp disease
- Skin lesion
Lame piglets
- Strep suis
- Large litters
- Low colostrum
- Rough floors; rough slats
- Injury from sow -> death, arthritis, pyaemia (septicaemia)
- Joint ill
- Trauma - iron injections
- FMDV (foot + mouth)
- SVD (swine vesicular disease)
Foot + knee damage (piglet)
- Foot v soft at birth
- Rough, wet floor surface
Sudden onset acute lame piglets/weaners
- Strep suis type 14
Lameness - joint ill (from pyaemia) (piglet)
- Dirty teeth or tail clippers
- Dirty vacc needles/contaminated bottles
- Infected navels
- Low colostrum intakes
Scouring piglets
- Poor BCS
- Hairy piglets
- Red anus + vulva
- Wet around tails
- ‘Hollow’ flanks
- Smell
- 0 - 48 h = bacterial, E. coli or clostridia - C&S
- 7 - 10 d = rotavirus, E. coli, later on coccidiosis
PEDv (porcine epidemic diarrhoea)
- Severe in N America + Asia, less virulent strains in Europe
- Explosive outbreak of watery D+ w/ reduced appetite + lethargy, sometimes V+, all ages
- High mortality (30 - 100%) in suckling piglets, all parities of sows, may be found dead before D+ noticed
- Weaned + older pigs, PED = transient + pigs recover
- ND in England
Neurological signs (piglet)
- Hypoglycaemia
- Congenital tremors
- S. suis meningitis - several strains, severity varies -> paddling, nystagmus
- ND = Aujesky’s disease, ASF, Talfan/Teschen (Teschovirus encephalomyelitis)
Skin lesions (piglet)
- Greasy pig
- Epitheliogenesis imperfecta
- Pityriasis rosea
- Abrasive necrosis
Congenital deformities (piglet)
- Splay leg
- Atresia ani
- Cleft palate
- Thickened forelegs
- Congenital tremor - okay when sleep but severe prevents suckling -> knee damage
- Hydrocephalus
- No action - euth
Splay leg
- Weak piglets
- Low birth weights
- Compounded by smooth floors
- Genetic - Landrace
- Die from starvation or overlay
Stressors at weaning
- Maternal separation
- Now social hierarchy
- New environment + temp
- Necessity to locate new feed + water sources
- Dietary change from liquid milk to solid cereal based diet
Effect of weaning stressors
- Post-weaning anorexia - maintenance energy requirements not met until 3 d post-weaning, intake dec at weaning
- Stomach less acidic, absorptive surface of gut dec, malabsorption - gut not ready for cereal digestion, protective immune factors in milk removed
- Damaged gut barrier func -> malabsorption, D+ + dehydration, gut inflam, systemic disease
Rapid growth (weaners)
- Feed efficiency declines w/ age
- Lost lean growth at this stage not regained later
- Capacity for lean growth declines w/ age - middle-aged spread
Hygiene performance
- Disease control
- Improve performance - pig sick
- Welfare - preventing harm or disease
- Carryover of disease
- Maintenance of buildings - servicing, repair, C&D
Identifying sick pig
- CS of disease - eyes, ears + nose
- Social interactions
- Eating/drinking
- Scour
- Skin colour/wounds
- Resp rate
- Lameness
- Warmth seeking
- Behaviour
- Posture
- Perineal soiling
- Swollen joint/navel
Temp effect on growth rates
- For every 1 C below lower critical temp of thermoneutral zone (between 15 - 30 C)
- Pig loses 10 - 12 g live weight gain per day
- If too warm - won’t eat as much
- Too cold - eat plenty, less energy used for growth
Development of unevenness post weaning
- Overcrowding - uneven no. sows farrowing
- Poor hygiene
- Cold
- Incorrect ration
- Poor ventilation
- Not enough feed space or hoppers not being refilled freq
- Disease
Small weaner
- Less heat production - require higher ambient temperatures
- Eat less food - need better diet
- Prone to disease
- Less able to compete
- Continue to be disadvantaged
Factors that affect feed intake (weaner)
- Blocked hoppers
- Dust
- Wet/soiled feed
- Damage to feeders
- Incorrect diet
- Water flow rates
- Ambient temp
- Health problems
Aggression (weaner)
- Social hierarchy
- Mixing pig
- Avoid vice
- Gets worse as get older
Diseases (weaners)
Factors affecting health
- Stress
- Temp
- Poor ventilation
- Incorrect diet
- Inadequate water supply
- Stocking rate
- Poor hygiene + maintenance
- Previous health problems
- Visitors/breaches in biosecurity
Post-weaning D+
- 7 - 10 d post-weaning
- E. coli infections - some scour, others -> bowel oedema
- Good piglets growing well, squeaky squeal, puffy eyes, sudden deaths
- Salmonella
- PCV-2
- Take swabs from untreated pigs for bacteriology + antimicrobial sensitivity
PMWS (post-weaning multisystemic wasting syndrome)
- PCV-2
- 30% post-weaning mort
- 3 - 4 w post-weaning
- Pigs weaning in good condition, start to lose weight -> yellow scour -> death
PMWS (post-weaning multisystemic wasting syndrome) - PME signs
- Massive H+ + oedema of mesenteric + inguinal LNs
- Yellow scour in colon
- Enlarged spleen + liver
- Lung congestion (inc coughing)
- ‘Turkey egg’ kidney = enlarged + mottled
PDNS (porcine dermatitis + nephropathy syndrome) (weaner)
- Massive dark black skin lesions
- Most affected die
- Ear tips may drop off
Meningitis (weaner)
- Most common cause = Strep suis type 2
- Sporadic cases = Glassers, consequences of pyaemia (e.g. from tail biting), salt poisoning/water deprivation, oedema disease
- Environmental conditions inc, see in spring - large temp fluctuations e.g. Autumn, high humidity, poor ventilation, overstocking
- Dx - swabs of heart blood, CSF
Meningitis CS (weaner)
- Sudden death - often don’t see any CS, just dead piglet
Neuro signs - Ataxia
- Recum
- Paddling
- Proprioceptive deficits
- Pyrexia
Systemic streptococcus suis (weaner)
- CS - systemic effects - joint swelling, lethargy, inappetence, seizure, nystagmus, sudden death
- Dx - PME = nothing, fibrin-polyserositis, endocarditis
- Microbiology - heart blood, joint fluid, meningeal swab
Disease transmission between UK farms (pigs + people transmission)
- Meningitis - streptococcus suis
- Enzootic pneumonia - mycoplasma hypopneumonia
- Blue ear - PRRS
- Influenza
- Swine dysentery
Notifiable/exotic diseases
- ASF - working its way across Europe in animals + products
- CSF
- FMDV
- PED - porcine epidemic diarrhoea
- Aujeszky’s disease - no tin UK
Porcine epidemic diarrhoea (PED)
- V pathogenic - 1 mL solution of 1 g diarrhoea in 748 gallons of water will infect a pig
Endemic diseases
- EP - mycoplasma hyponeumoniae
- PCV-2 - possible to have +ive PCR result if have vaccinated animals - don’t know if infection active + significant from PCR - cannot used for definitive Dx
- Erysipelas
- Parvovirus
- E. coli
- Clostridial disease
Serology
- PRRS
- EP (enzootic pneumonia)
- Ileitis
- Swine influenza (paired samples)
Tail biting
Housing + husbandry -> behaviour, welfare issue - when not happy, exhibit vice
- Crowded
- Temp variation
- Uneven tail dock length
- Inadequate feed or water space
- Other diseases present -> ‘grumpy’ pig
- Genotype
- Welfare regulations - must have manipulative material e.g. straw to distract/bite
- Not always to tail, can be flank/ears
Main groups of diseases
- Enteric disorders
- Resp diseases
Everything else
- Mulberry heart
- Meningitis
- Skin disorders, erysipelas
- Lameness
- Vice
- Management factors - food, water, space, ventilation, scrape through, hygiene between batches
Enteric disorders post-weaning
- Ileitis
- E. coli
- PCV2-AD
- PED
- Salmonella
- Colitis
- Brachyspira
- PMWS - post-weaning multisystemic wasting syndrome
- Swine dysentery
Scouring in older pigs
- Colitis = dietary
- Ileitis - Lawsonia intracellularis
- Salmonella
- Swine dysentery = Brachyspira hyodysenteriae
- Yersinia
- PED/TGE (transmissible gastroenteritis)
- Non-specific - Brachyspira pilosicoli, intestinal parasites
- Swine fever
Lawsonia intracellularis (ileitis)
(PIA = porcine intestinal adenomatosis)
- Endemic in UK - often just see loose faeces
Variation in CS
- Peracute = sudden death from intestinal haemorrhage, ‘Haemorrhagic enteropathy’
- Acute - magenta colour scour
- Chronic - scour
- Subclinical - poor growth
Acute ileitis
- Extensive H+ in intestine
- Difficult to distinguish between from intestinal torsion, open pig v slowly (or will inc freckles)
- If bowel wall not inflamed, check for stomach ulcer
Chronic ileitis
- Diphtheritic gut
- Enlarged mesenteric LN
- Thickened diphtheritic terminal ileum (just before joining colon)
Swine dysentery
- Brachyspira hyodysenteria
- Dysenteric scour - blood + mucous
- Massive weight loss + deaths
- High mortality if not controlled
- Deaths in sows + finishers
- DDx = acute ileitis
- CS = blood + mucus in faeces
- Dx = CS, culture - PCR
Swine dysentery vs acute ileitis
- SD in colon, not ileum
- Higher mortality
- Can affect sows
- Generally in older pigs
Why is swine dysentery on the inc?
- Biosecurity - loading ramps, clean lorries
- Wildlife - birds, foxes
- Some strains resistant to some antimicrobials
Dx approach to enteric disease
- Clinical Hx - age, stage of production, vacc, feeding Hx
- Clinical inspection - morbidity + mortality
- Investigation - faecal sampling, swabs, pooled faeces samples (untreated pigs); PME - gross appearance, intestinal samples, histology sections; submit carcase to APHA
- Tx + control options - group/indiv; in feed/water/injection; vacc; nutritional manipulation
- Public health implications - zoonotic e.g. Salmonella
Respiratory diseases
- EP - enzootic pneumonia - mycoplasma hyopneumoniae
- APP = Actinobacillus pleuropneumonia
- PRRS = porcine reproductive + respiratory syndrome
- Glassers = Glaesserella parasuis
- SI = swine influenza
- AR = atrophic rhinitis - pasteurella + bordetella
- PMWS - porcine circovirus type 2
- Coronavirus
- Pasteurella/Mannheimia
- Inclusion body rhinintis
Respiratory CS
- Coughing/sneezing
- Inc resp effort = really struggling
- Nasal/ocular discharge
- Dec appetite
- Condition loss
- Repro effects - PRRS, flu in breeding stocks
- Death