A review of porcine pathophysiology: A different approach to disease

Abstract

Diseases are often thought to result from a single cause. Although this is sometimes the case, e.g. with a highly virulent infection such as Classical Swine Fever (CSF), more often clinical disease in swine herds results from multiple predisposing factors. This is especially true in modern intensive pig husbandry, in which the role of highly infectious diseases is limited to (nonetheless devastating) outbreaks. More important nowadays are diseases, although associated with an agent, without a clear pathogenesis. The emphasis in disease control thus far has been on treatment, eradication and prevention. This has been achieved by focusing attention on husbandry factors, such as climate, housing, hygiene, management, and nutrition. Although this approach has been successful for a number of diseases, several health problems are persistent. There are strong indications that in the latter, intrinsic animal factors are important. Successful handling of these problems requires knowledge of the (patho)physiology of the pig. In this article, several characteristics of pig physiology associated with the occurrence of disease are described. It appears that the modern (fattening) pig is exceptional among other animal species in that its cardiovascular system is mismatched to its body weight. It is argued that this particular disposition causes relatively minor disturbances to have major consequences in the pig. This concept of pig physiology is central to the understanding of the hitherto poorly understood pathogenesis of several diseases, such as oedema disease.

Does cardiovascular performance of modern fattening pigs obey allometric scaling laws?

“…Van Engelhardt (1966) postulated that all these cardiovascular alterations could contribute to an unstable circulatory system in pigs, but emphasized that our understanding of cardiovascular physiology of domesticated pigs was fragmentary and that there was a serious lack of data, especially CO data, in conscious animals. Similar concern was raised more recently by Niewold et al (2000) that the relatively small heart, blood volume, and decreased hemoglobin concentration could limit CO and hence cardiovascular adaptability to stress. The consequent increased risk of circulatory insufficiency or failure might even contribute to persistent pig diseases such as edema disease and transportassociated health problems (Niewold et al, 2000).…”

“…Similar concern was raised more recently by Niewold et al (2000) that the relatively small heart, blood volume, and decreased hemoglobin concentration could limit CO and hence cardiovascular adaptability to stress. The consequent increased risk of circulatory insufficiency or failure might even contribute to persistent pig diseases such as edema disease and transportassociated health problems (Niewold et al, 2000).…”

A comparative study on the expression profile of MCTs and HSPs in Ghungroo and Large White Yorkshire breeds of pigs during different seasons

“…In pigs, this is a normal situation when stressful conditions change the vascular resistance, which results in decreased blood supply in the splanchnic area. This leads easily to ischemia in the gastrointestinal system (Niewold et al 2000), which has been shown to be associated with intestinal acidosis in pigs (Ljungdahl et al 1997). Thus, during stress, it is important that MCT proteins function properly to maintain a sufficiently high intracellular pH for HSP production (Sepponen 2008).…”

Constraints of HACCP Application on Edible Insect for Food and Feed

“…Intensive production results in a higher probability of spreading diseases for the raising animals [46]. The experience from rearing bees has shown that animal-specific diseases might have negative economic outcomes [47]; thus, if the insects' production takes off for higher levels of intensive production, it is predictable that specific diseases might spread in the farms, and administration of veterinary drugs has to be considered, creating a problem with drug residues similar to that we face actually with meat from conventional husbandry [48,49]. Recording of all procedures and measures that have impact on food safety should be made continuously.…”