Pig diseases

Pigs are a very profitable economic type of agricultural meat animals. Pigs grow quickly, multiply rapidly, and bring numerous offspring. In the absence of infections and minimal care from their owners, pigs have a high survival rate. Pigs are omnivores, which makes keeping pigs much easier. Pork is one of the most easily digestible types of meat. With these qualities, the pig could be the best choice both for business and as a source of meat for the family. If it were not for the susceptibility of pigs to various diseases, many of which are dangerous to humans.

Infectious diseases of pigs, with the exception of diseases common to several species of mammals, are not dangerous to humans, but cause epizootics among pigs, which is why not only the entire population of domestic pigs in the quarantine area is often destroyed.

Symptoms and treatment of infectious diseases of pigs with a photo

Foot and mouth disease in pigs

Pigs are one of the animal species prone to this disease. Foot and mouth disease is a highly contagious and acute viral disease with the ability to spread rapidly. The virus can spread on the wheels of transport, staff shoes, through meat products.

In pigs, the disease is characterized by short-term fever and the appearance of aphthae on the oral mucosa, udder, hoof rim and interhoof gap.

The disease in pigs is caused by one of several RNA virus serotypes. All types of foot-and-mouth disease virus are resistant to the external environment and to the action of disinfectant solutions. Neutralize the FMD virus acids and alkalis.

Symptoms of disease in pigs

The latent period of the disease can be from 36 hours to 21 days. But these values ​​are quite rare. The usual period of the latent course of the disease is 2 to 7 days.

In adult pigs, aphthae are formed on the patch, tongue, rim of the hooves and udder. On the tongue, the epithelium is exfoliated. Lameness develops.

Piglets do not form aphthae, but symptoms of gastroenteritis and intoxication are observed.

Treatment of foot and mouth disease in pigs

Treatment of pigs is carried out with anti-foot and mouth drugs: immunolactone, lactoglobulin and blood serum of convalescents, that is, recovering pigs. The mouth of the pigs is washed with antiseptic and astringent preparations. The udder and hooves of pigs are surgically treated, after which antibiotics and painkillers are used. According to indications, intravenous 40% glucose solution, calcium chloride and saline, as well as cardiac drugs, can be used.

Disease prevention in pigs

Thanks to strict rules that have been preserved since the times of the USSR, foot and mouth disease in the CIS is perceived as an exotic disease that can affect cattle in the UK, and not in Our Country. However, FMD outbreaks also occur on farms, but only a few pigs become ill due to the general vaccination against FMD. That is, only those pigs are ill, in whom the disease has “pierced” immunity after vaccination.

In the event of foot-and-mouth disease in pigs, the farm is placed under strict quarantine, any movement of pigs and products is prohibited. Sick pigs are isolated and treated. Premises, inventory, overalls, vehicles are disinfected. Manure is disinfected. The bodies of pigs are burned. The quarantine can be lifted 21 days after the recovery of all animals and the final thorough disinfection.

Rabies

A viral disease that is dangerous not only for animals, but also for humans. The disease is transmitted only through a bite. In pigs, the disease proceeds in a violent form with pronounced aggressiveness and excitement.

Symptoms of rabies

The duration of the incubation period of the disease in pigs is from 3 weeks to 2 months. Signs of the disease in pigs are similar to those of rabies, which occurs in a violent form in carnivores: unsteady gait, profuse salivation, difficulty swallowing. Aggressive pigs attack other animals and humans. Pigs develop paralysis before death. The disease lasts 5-6 days.

Prevention of rabies

Since rabies is incurable even in humans, all measures are aimed at preventing the disease. In rabies-affected areas, pigs are vaccinated. If there are a large number of foxes in nature near the farm, it is necessary to prevent wild animals from entering the pigs. Disinfestation of the territory is obligatory, since rats, along with squirrels, are one of the main carriers of rabies.

swine pox

Smallpox as a disease is common to many animal species, including humans. But it is caused by different types of DNA-containing viruses. This virus only causes disease in pigs and is not harmful to humans. Swine pox is transmitted by contact of a healthy animal with a sick one, as well as skin parasites.

swine pox symptoms

In different animal species, the incubation period of the disease is different, in pigs it is 2-7 days. With smallpox, the body temperature rises to 42 ° C. Appear characteristic of smallpox lesions of the skin and mucous membranes.

The course of smallpox is mostly acute and subacute. There is a chronic form of the disease. There are several forms of swine pox: abortive, confluent, and hemorrhagic; typical and atypical. The disease is often complicated by secondary infections. With a typical form of the disease, all stages of the development of the disease are observed, with an atypical form, the disease stops at the stage of papules.

Confluent pox: Pustules coalesce into large, pus-filled blisters. Hemorrhagic smallpox: hemorrhages in pockmarks and skin. With the disease of hemorrhagic confluent smallpox, the mortality rate of piglets is from 60 to 100%.

In pigs, roseolas turn into pustules with the development of the disease.

An accurate diagnosis is established by laboratory tests.

Treatment of swine pox

Treatment of smallpox in pigs is mainly symptomatic. Sick pigs are isolated in dry and warm rooms, provide free access to water, adding potassium iodide to it. Smallpox crusts are softened with ointments, glycerin or fat. Ulcers are treated with cauterizing agents. Broad-spectrum antibiotics are used to prevent secondary infections.

Prevention of swine pox

When smallpox appears, the farm is quarantined, which is removed only 21 days after the last dead or recovered pig and thorough disinfection. The corpses of pigs with clinical signs of the disease are burned whole. Prevention of smallpox is not aimed at protecting the household from the disease, but at preventing the spread of the disease further in the area.

Aujeszky’s disease

The disease is also known as pseudorabies. The disease brings significant losses to farms, as it is caused by the porcine herpes virus, although it can also affect other mammalian species. The disease is characterized by encephalomyelitis and pneumonia. Convulsions, fever, agitation may occur.

Symptoms of the disease

The incubation period of the disease in pigs is 5-10 days. In adult pigs, fever, lethargy, sneezing, and loss of appetite are noted. The condition of the animals is normalized after 3-4 days. The CNS is rarely affected.

Piglets, especially suckling and weaned, suffer from Aujeszky’s disease much more severely. They develop a CNS lesion syndrome. At the same time, the incidence in piglets can reach 100%, mortality in 2-week-old piglets is from 80% up to 100%, in older piglets from 40 to 80%. The diagnosis is made on the basis of laboratory tests, differentiating Aujeszky from Teschen’s disease, plague, rabies, listeriosis, influenza, edematous disease, poisoning.

The picture shows a picture of the CNS lesion in Aujeszky’s disease with a characteristic deflection of the back.

Treatment of the disease

Treatment of the disease has not been developed, although there are attempts to treat with hyperimmune serum. But it is ineffective. Antibiotics and vitamins are used to prevent the development of secondary infections (to boost immunity).

disease prevention

When an outbreak is imminent, susceptible animals are vaccinated according to instructions. In the event of an outbreak of the disease, the farm is quarantined, which is removed if a healthy offspring is obtained six months after the vaccination is stopped.

anthrax

One of the most dangerous contagious diseases that affects not only animals, but also people. Active anthrax bacilli are not very resistant to environmental conditions, but spores can persist almost forever. Due to the weakening of state control over the cattle burial grounds, where the animals that died from anthrax were buried, this disease began to appear again on farms. Anthrax can be transmitted even by butchering a slaughtered sick animal or by contact with infected meat when preparing a dish from it. Provided that the unscrupulous seller sold the meat of pigs suffering from anthrax.

Symptoms of the disease

The incubation period of the disease is up to 3 days. Most often, the disease progresses very quickly. The fulminant course of the disease, when the animal suddenly falls and dies within a few minutes, is more common in sheep than in pigs, but this form of the disease cannot be ruled out. In the acute course of the disease, the pig is sick for 1 to 3 days. In a subacute course, the disease is delayed up to 5-8 days or up to 2-3 months in a chronic course. Rarely, but there is an abortive course of anthrax, in which the pig recovers.

In pigs, the disease occurs with symptoms of angina, affecting the tonsils. The neck is also swollen. Signs are revealed only during post-mortem examination of the pig carcass. In the intestinal form of anthrax, fever, colic, constipation, followed by diarrhea are observed. In the pulmonary form of the disease, pulmonary edema develops.

The diagnosis is established on the basis of laboratory tests. Anthrax must be distinguished from malignant edema, pasteurellosis, piroplasmosis, enterotoxemia, emkar and bradzot.

Treatment and prevention of the disease

Anthrax responds well to treatment if precautions are taken. For the treatment of the disease, gamma globulin, anthrax serum, antibiotics, and local anti-inflammatory therapy are used.

To prevent the disease in disadvantaged areas, all animals are vaccinated twice a year. In the event of a disease outbreak, quarantine is imposed on the farm. Sick pigs are isolated and treated, suspicious animals are immunized and observed for 10 days. The corpses of dead animals are burned. The unfavorable territory is thoroughly disinfected. Quarantine is removed 15 days after the last recovery or death of the pig.

Listeriosis

A bacterial infection to which wild and domestic animals are susceptible. Natural focal infection transmitted to pigs from wild rodents.

Symptoms of the disease

Listeriosis has several clinical manifestations. In the nervous form of the disease, body temperature rises to 40 – 41 ° C. In pigs, there is a loss of interest in food, depression, lacrimation. After some time, the animals develop diarrhea, cough, vomiting, backward movement, rash. Death in the nervous form of the disease occurs in 60 – 100% of cases.

The septic form of the disease occurs in piglets in the first months of life. Signs of the septic form of the disease: cough, cyanosis of the ears and abdomen, shortness of breath. In most cases, piglets die within 2 weeks.

The diagnosis is made in the laboratory, differentiating listeriosis from many other diseases, the description of the symptoms of which is very similar.

Treatment of listeriosis

Treatment of the disease is effective only in the initial stage. Antibiotics of the penicillin and tetracycline groups are prescribed. At the same time, symptomatic treatment of animals is carried out, which supports cardiac activity and improves digestion.

disease prevention

The main measure for the prevention of listeriosis is regular deratization, which controls the number of rodents and prevents the introduction of the pathogen. In the event of an outbreak, suspicious pigs are isolated and treated. The rest are vaccinated with a dry live vaccine.

Many pig diseases and their symptoms are very similar to each other, which makes it easy for the pig owner to confuse their symptoms.

Infectious diseases of pigs that are harmless to humans and their treatment

Although these swine diseases are not common to humans, the diseases cause significant economic damage, being easily transmitted from one pig to another and traveling considerable distances on shoes and car wheels.

One of the new and very dangerous diseases for pig production is African swine fever.

African swine fever

The disease was introduced to the European continent in the second half of the XNUMXth century, causing significant damage to pig production. Since that time, ASF has periodically flared up in different places.

The disease is caused by a DNA-containing virus that is transmitted not only through the excretions of sick animals and household items, but also through poorly processed pig products. The virus is perfectly preserved in salted and smoked pork products. According to one of the official versions of the sensational outbreak of ASF in the Nizhny Novgorod region in 2011, the cause of the disease in the backyard pigs was the feeding of unthermally processed food waste from a nearby military unit to the pigs.

In addition to table waste, any object that has been in contact with a pig sick or dead from ASF can mechanically transmit the virus: parasites, birds, rodents, people, and so on.

Symptoms of the disease

Infection occurs through contact with a sick animal, through the air, as well as through the conjunctiva and damaged skin. The incubation period of the disease lasts from 2 to 6 days. The course of the disease can be hyperacute, acute or chronic. The chronic course of the disease is less common.

With a hyperacute course, no signs of the disease are observed outwardly, although it actually lasts 2 to 3 days. But the pigs are dying “out of the blue.”

In the acute course of the disease, lasting 7-10 days, pigs experience an increase in temperature up to 42 degrees, shortness of breath, cough, vomiting, nervous damage to the hind limbs, which is expressed in paralysis and paresis. Bloody diarrhea is possible, although constipation is more common. Purulent discharges appear from the nose and eyes of sick pigs. The number of leukocytes is reduced to 50 – 60%. The gait is unsteady, the tail is untwisted, the head is lowered, weakness of the hind legs, loss of interest in the world around. The pigs are thirsty. Red-purple spots appear on the neck, behind the ears, on the inside of the hind legs, on the abdomen, which do not turn pale when pressed. Pregnant sows are aborted.

The chronic course of the disease can last from 2 to 10 months.

Depending on the course of the disease, mortality among pigs reaches 50-100%. Surviving pigs become lifelong virus carriers.

disease prevention

ASF must be differentiated from classical swine fever, although there is no difference in pigs themselves. In both cases, they are waiting for slaughter.

Since ASF is a highly contagious disease of pigs that can wipe out the entire swine population, when cases of ASF appear, pigs are not treated. In a dysfunctional farm, all pigs are destroyed by a bloodless method and burned. Pigs that have been in contact with sick pigs are also destroyed. All waste products are burned, and the ashes are buried in pits, mixing it with lime.

The area is under quarantine. Within a radius of 25 km from the focus of the disease, all pigs are slaughtered, sending the meat for processing for canned food.

Quarantine is removed only 40 days after the last case of the disease. Breeding of pigs is allowed after another 40 days after the lifting of the quarantine. However, the practice of the same Nizhny Novgorod region shows that after ASF in their region it is better for private owners not to risk getting new pigs. Veterinary service workers can play it safe.

Classic swine fever

A highly contagious viral disease of pigs caused by an RNA virus. The disease is characterized by signs of blood poisoning and the appearance of spots on the skin from subcutaneous bleeding in the acute form of the disease. In the subacute and chronic form of the disease, pneumonia and colitis are observed.

Symptoms of the disease

The average duration of the incubation period of the disease is 5-8 days. Sometimes there are both shorter: 3 days, and more protracted: 2-3 weeks, the duration of the disease. The course of the disease is acute, subacute and chronic. In rare cases, the course of the disease can be fulminant. CSF has five forms of the disease:

• septic;
• pulmonary;
• nervous;
• intestinal;
• atypical.

Forms appear in different courses of the disease.

Treatment and prevention of the disease

Diagnosis is based on clinical signs and laboratory tests. Classical swine fever must be separated from many other diseases, including ASF, Aujeszky’s disease, erysipelas, pasteurellosis, salmonellosis, and others.

Which no one actually does, which is why, for example, salt poisoning of pigs can be mistaken for plague.

Treatment of the disease has not been developed, sick pigs are slaughtered. They carry out strict control over the purchased new livestock of animals in order to exclude the penetration of swine fever into a prosperous economy. When using slaughterhouse waste at fattening bases, the waste is reliably disinfected.

When plague appears, the farm is quarantined and disinfection measures are taken. Quarantine is removed 40 days after the last case of death or slaughter of sick pigs.

Porcine enzootic encephalomyelitis

A simpler name: Taschen’s disease. The disease brings significant economic damage, as up to 95% of diseased pigs die. The disease is manifested by paralysis and paresis of the limbs, a general nervous breakdown. The causative agent is an RNA-containing virus. The disease is distributed throughout the European part of the mainland.

The main way the disease is spread is through the solid feces of sick animals. Moreover, the virus can disappear and reappear, causing another outbreak of the disease. The route of entry of the virus has not been established. There is an opinion that the disease appears after the slaughter of virus-carrying pigs by private traders in their backyards. Since sanitary requirements are usually not observed during such slaughter, the virus penetrates the soil, where it can remain active for a long time.

Teschen disease (porcine enzootic encephalomyelitis)

Symptoms of the disease

The incubation period for Teschen’s disease is from 9 to 35 days. The disease is characterized by vivid signs of damage to the nervous system, leading to encephalitis.

The disease has 4 types of course.

In the hyperacute course of the disease, a very rapid development of paralysis is noted, in which the pigs can no longer walk and only lie on their side. The death of animals occurs 2 days after the onset of symptoms of the disease.

The acute course of the disease begins with lameness in the hind limbs, which quickly turns into paresis. When moving, the sacral section of the pig swings to the sides. Pigs often fall and after several falls they can no longer get up. Animals develop an excited state and increased pain sensitivity of the skin. Trying to stand on their feet, the pigs lean against the support. Appetite saved. After 1-2 days from the onset of the disease, complete paralysis develops. The animal dies from suffocation as a result of paralysis of the respiratory center.

In the subacute course of the disease, the signs of CNS damage are not so pronounced, and in the chronic, many pigs recover, but CNS lesions remain: encephalitis, lameness, slowly regressing paralysis. Many pigs die from pneumonia, which develops as a complication of the disease.

When diagnosing Teschen’s disease, it is necessary to differentiate not only from other infectious diseases, but also from such non-contagious diseases of pigs as A and D-avitaminosis and poisoning, including table salt.

disease prevention

They prevent the introduction of the virus by forming a pig herd only from prosperous farms and necessarily quarantine new pigs. When a disease occurs, all pigs are slaughtered and processed into canned food. Quarantine is removed 40 days after the last case or slaughter of a sick pig and disinfection.

There is no cure for Teschen’s disease.

Helminthiases of pigs, dangerous to humans

Of all the worms that can infect pigs, two are the most dangerous for humans: pork tapeworm or pork tapeworm and trichinella.

Pork Chain

A tapeworm whose main host is humans. The tapeworm eggs, along with human feces, enter the external environment, where they can be eaten by a pig. In the intestines of the pig, larvae emerge from the eggs, some of which penetrate the muscles of the pig and there they turn into a Finn – a round embryo.

Human infection occurs by eating undercooked pig meat. If Finns enter the human body, adult worms emerge from it, which continue the reproduction cycle. When tapeworm eggs enter the human body, the Finn stage passes in the human body, which can lead to death.

Trichinellosis

Trichinella is a small nematode that develops in the body of one host. Omnivorous and carnivorous animals, including humans, become infected with the parasite. In humans, this occurs when eating undercooked pork or bear meat.

Trichinella larvae are very resistant and do not die with weak pickling of meat and its smoking. They can persist for a long time in rotting meat, which creates the prerequisites for the infection of some scavenger with Trichinella.

A simplified scheme of trichinella infection from a pig: a pig is an omnivore, therefore, having found a dead mouse, rat, squirrel or other corpse of a predatory or omnivore animal, the pig will eat carrion. If the corpse was infected with trichinella, then when it enters the intestines of a pig, trichinella will throw out live larvae in an amount of up to 2100 pieces. The larvae penetrate with blood into the striated muscles of the pig and pupate there.

Further, they wait in the wings when the pig is eaten by another animal.

After slaughtering a sick pig and eating poorly processed meat for human consumption, the Trichinella Finn comes out of suspended animation and throws out its 2 larvae already in the human body. The larvae penetrate the human muscles and pupate already in the human body. Lethal dose of larvae: 000 pieces per kilogram of human weight.

Disease prevention measures

Treatment of the disease has not been developed. Pigs with trichinosis are slaughtered and disposed of. Carry out deratization and destruction of stray animals near the farm. Do not allow unsupervised vagrancy of pigs around the territory.

As a preventive measure, it is better for a person not to buy pork in unspecified places.

Treatment of pigs against worms

Invasive skin diseases in pigs, symptoms and treatment

Skin diseases of pigs, and not only pigs, are all contagious, except for skin manifestations of allergies. Any skin disease in pigs is caused by either a fungus or microscopic mites. If these two causes are absent, then the deformation of the skin is a symptom of an internal disease.

Mycoses, popularly referred to in bulk as lichen, are fungal diseases to which all mammals are susceptible.

Trichophytosis or “ringworm” in pigs takes the form of round or oblong scaly red spots. Trichophytosis is carried by rodents and skin parasites.

Microsporia is characterized by breaking off of hair at a distance of several millimeters above the skin and the presence of dandruff on the surface of the focus.

In pigs, microsporia usually begins on the ears as orange-brown spots. Gradually, a thick crust forms on the site of infection and the fungus spreads along the back.

The type of fungus is determined in the laboratory, but the treatment of all types of fungi is very similar. Apply antifungal ointments and drugs according to the scheme prescribed by the veterinarian.

Another variant of skin invasion in pigs is the scabies mite, which causes sarcoptic mange.

Sarcoptic mange

The disease is caused by a microscopic mite that lives in the epidermis of the skin. Sick animals are the source of the disease. The tick can be transmitted mechanically on clothing or equipment, as well as flies, rodents, fleas.

In pigs, sarcoptic mange can occur in two forms: in the ears and all over the body.

2 days after infection, papules appear on the affected areas, bursting during scratching. The skin peels off, the bristles fall out, crusts, cracks and folds form. Pigs develop severe itching, especially at night. Because of the itch, the pigs are nervous, cannot eat, and exhaustion sets in. If measures are not taken for treatment, the pig dies a year after infection.

Treatment of the disease

For the treatment of sarcoptic mange, external anti-tick preparations and anti-tick injections of ivomec or aversect are used according to the instructions. To prevent the disease, the destruction of ticks in the surrounding area is carried out.

Non-communicable diseases of pigs

Non-communicable diseases include:

• trauma;
• congenital abnormalities;
• avitaminosis;
• poisoning;
• obstetric and gynecological pathologies;
• internal diseases caused by non-infectious causes.

All these diseases are common to all mammalian species. Due to the similarity of salt poisoning of pigs with very dangerous types of plague, it should be dealt with separately.

Salt poisoning of pigs

The disease occurs when pigs are fed too much salt in food waste from canteens or feed pigs with feed for cattle.

Symptoms of the disease

Signs of poisoning appear in the period from 12 to 24 hours from the moment the pig eats salt. Poisoning in a pig is characterized by thirst, profuse salivation, muscle tremors, fever, and rapid breathing. The gait is shaky, the pig assumes the pose of a stray dog. There is a stage of excitement. The pupils are dilated, the skin is bluish or reddened. Excitement is replaced by oppression. Due to paresis of the pharynx, pigs cannot eat and drink. Vomiting and diarrhea are possible, sometimes with blood. The pulse is weak, frequent. Pigs go into a coma before they die.

Treatment of the disease

Infusion of large amounts of water through a tube. Intravenous solution of calcium chloride 10% at the rate of 1 mg/kg of body weight. Intravenous glucose solution 40%. Intramuscularly calcium gluconate 20-30 ml.

Conclusion

After reading a reference book on veterinary medicine, you can be frightened by finding out how many diseases a domestic pig can get sick. But the practice of experienced pig breeders shows that in fact, pigs are not so susceptible to various diseases, provided that their breeding area is safe for these diseases. If the area is under quarantine, then the summer resident who wants to get a pig will be notified by the local veterinarian. Therefore, with the exception of the death of very young piglets for reasons unrelated to infection, pigs show a good survival rate and a high return on feed expended.