Pathological and bacteriological characterization of neonatal porcine diarrhoea of uncertain aetiology

Abstract

Neonatal porcine diarrhoea of uncertain aetiology has been reported from a number of countries. This study investigated 50 diarrhoeic and 19 healthy piglets from 10 affected Swedish herds. The piglets were blood-sampled for analysis of serum c-globulin and necropsied, and the intestines were sampled for histopathology and cultured for Escherichia coli, Clostridium perfringens and Clostridium difficile. Escherichia coli isolates (n5276) were examined by PCR for virulence genes encoding LT, STa, STb, EAST1, VT2e, F4, F5, F6, F18, F41, AIDA-I, intimin, and for the genes aaiC and aggR. Selected isolates were analysed for additional virulence genes by a microarray and subjected to O-typing. Clostridium perfringens isolates (n5152) were examined by PCR for genes encoding major toxins, enterotoxin and beta2-toxin. There was no difference in serum c-globulin concentration between diarrhoeic and non-diarrhoeic piglets, and pathological lesions in the intestines were generally mild. Porcine enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli, a common cause of piglet diarrhoea, was only found in two piglets. Further, the virulence gene profiling did not suggest involvement of other diarrhoeogenic pathotypes of Escherichia coli. Growth of Clostridium perfringens did not differ between diarrhoeic and non-diarrhoeic piglets. All isolates were type A, all were negative for enterotoxin, and 151 of 152 isolates were beta2-toxin positive. In pigs ¢2 days old, moderate to profuse growth of Clostridium difficile was more common in the controls. In conclusion, it was not possible to relate Escherichia coli, Clostridium perfringens type A and C or Clostridium difficile to neonatal porcine diarrhoea in any of the investigated herds.

Diarrhoea in neonatal piglets: a case control study on microbiological findings

“…It has been established that C. difficile can cause enteritis in neonatal piglets [27–29], but epidemiologic studies do not support the idea of C. difficile being a primary diarrhoeic pathogen in pigs [4, 13, 30–32]. In accordance with this, the detection of C. difficile was not associated with being a case in this study.…”

Effect of Lyophilized Bovine Colostrum on Growth and Survival of Newborn Piglets From Local Breed, in Benin Republic

“…The concentrations of porcine IgG in the piglets serum are shown in table 2. Discussion Diarrhea in newborn piglets is an old but still relevant problem in pig production (Larsson, 2016). In this study, diarrhea was the visible symptom in agreement with results obtained later by Agbokounou et al (2017a) who showed that diarrhea is the visible symptom observed with local piglets fed for the first 48 h of life with either heated bovine colostrum, or thawed bovine colostrum and thereafter kept under the sow piglets, or colostrum from the mother.…”

“…According to these observations, diarrhea observed between 7 and 14 d in the piglets of SCB group could not be attributed to low colostrum intake. The composition of the intestinal microflora has been reported to show a large inter-individual variability during the first 1-2 weeks of the piglet's life, followed by a cohabitation effect around 3-4 weeks when the microflora among piglets become alike (Larsson, 2016). These findings could explain the only prevalence of diarrhea in the piglets of SCB group.…”

“…These results may be associated with the clearance of antimicrobial compounds of bovine colostrum during the three weeks of life. Larsson (2016) reported that no difference in the serum ɣ-globulin concentrations was observed between diarrheic and healthy piglets suggesting that the colostrum intake was adequate. This is in agreement with this study which showed that diarrheic and healthy piglets had the similar average serum IgG levels at 10 d (13.9 ± 1.6 mg/ml vs 14.7 ± 1.4 mg/ml, P > 0.05).…”

“…Diarrhea causes huge economic losses per sow and year (Larsson, 2016). The present study has shown that the supplementation of suckling local piglets breed with lyophilized bovine colostrum tends to reduce the prevalence of diarrhea and therefore can reduce these economic losses in small farmers with vulnerable resources.…”