The Sunday News
Mhlupheki Dube
THIS week we continue looking at some of the problem diseases in a pig production unit.
These include the post weaning diarrhoea (PWD). The symptoms of post-weaning diarrhoea occurs within 14 days after changing feed. Affected pigs pass greyish or brownish watery diarrhoea with no traces of blood. The diarrhoea usually disappears after a few days but it may persist and deaths from dehydration or septicaemia may occur.
While various causes can be attributed to PWD it is the loss of maternal immunity which tends to predispose your pigs to the disease.
The change of environment and poor hygienic measures in pens or fattening houses are also contributory factors in outbreaks.
Treatment should include among other procedures, reduction or restriction of feed and inclusion of roughage in the diet. Also antibiotics can be administered through injections or drinking water medication. Pens may also be disinfected to remove E coli.
Prevention of the disease involves preventing the formation of pathogenic E Coli populations in the gut.
Pigs on an affected farm should be weaned by removal of the sow and placed on a low level diet (less proteins, more crude fibres in the diet).
Stress should be avoided by ensuring that piglets from different litters are not mixed. Good hygiene measures are necessary to lower infection pressure.
Salmonellosis is another disease which can affect a pig production unit. More than 2 400 types of Salmonella bacteria are known, but only a few types cause salmonellosis in pigs of which are S typhimurium, S typhisuis and S cholerae suis.
Salmonellosis is a zoonotic disease which means it can be transferred from animals to humans.
Affected pigs have high fever, appear dull, do not eat, are weak or even show nervous symptoms, blueish-red colouring of the ears, limbs and the centre of the belly (cyanosis) and sometimes bloody spots (haemorrhages) all over the body are seen.
In some cases pigs show wasting and a persistent greyish diarrhoea, sometimes mixed with blood. Recovery can take a long time.
Treatment involves removing the feed for about two days and at the same time giving clean drinking water with electrolytes. Antibiotics should be given, at first preferably by injection, followed by antibiotics added to the drinking water or mixed with the feed.
To prevent the disease, normal hygienic measures like the all-in all-out system should be adopted. Pelleted feed is better than mash because the bacteria are killed during the pelleting process.
Another pig disease of economic importance is swine dysentery. This is an infection of the colon whose clinical symptoms include wasting and the passage of diarrhoea containing varying amounts of mucus and blood.
Pigs also develop fever, faeces are too soft and the pigs have a rough hair coat and a depressed growth rate. The symptoms are very similar to salmonellosis.
To treat the disease a farmer needs to reduce the amount of feed and give some straw or other roughage to the pigs.
Drugs are best administered via drinking water but medication of the feed or individual treatment by injection is also possible. The drugs have to be administered for a long time (14 days) but after treatment the disease may start again because the bacterium is very resistant.
The bacterium can persist in faeces for up to 40 days and carriers may be able to transmit the disease for at least 90 days after clinical symptoms disappear. Farms with an outbreak of the disease remain infected unless depopulation and thorough disinfection is carried out.
Prevention like most diseases in a pig production unit hinges on good hygienic measures and disinfection. Rodents should be eliminated and feed medication can be used as a prophylaxis for several weeks during risky periods.
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