The effect of New Neonatal Porcine Diarrhoea Syndrome (NNPDS) on average daily gain and mortality in 4 Danish pig herds

BACKGROUND: The study evaluated the effect of New Neonatal Porcine Diarrhoea Syndrome (NNPDS) on average daily gain (ADG) and mortality and described the clinical manifestations in four herds suffering from the syndrome. NNPDS is a diarrhoeic syndrome affecting piglets within the first week of life, which is not caused by enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC), Clostridium perfringens (C. perfringens) type A/C, Clostridium difficile (C. difficile), rotavirus A, coronavirus, Cystoisospora suis, Strongyloides ransomi, Giardia spp or Cryptosporidium spp. RESULTS: Piglets were estimated to have a negative ADG of 9 and 14 g when diarrhoeic for 1 day and >1 day respectively. However, if only diarrhoeic on the day of birth, no negative effect on ADG was seen. Piglets originating from severely affected litters were estimated to have a reduced ADG of 38 g. The study did not show an overall effect of diarrhoea on mortality, but herd of origin, sow parity, birth weight, and gender were significantly associated with mortality. In one of the herds, approximately 25% of the diarrhoeic piglets vs. 6% of the non-diarrhoeic piglets died, and 74% of necropsied piglets were diagnosed with enteritis. These findings indicate that the high mortality seen in this herd was due to diarrhoea. CONCLUSIONS: NNPDS negatively affected ADG in piglets, and even piglets that were diarrhoeic for one day only experienced a reduction in ADG. However, the study showed that diarrhoea restricted to the day of birth did not affect ADG and suggested this phenomenon to be unrelated to the syndrome. Since the diarrhoeal status of the litter had important effects on ADG, future research on NNPDS probably ought to focus on piglets from severely affected litters. The study showed important dissimilarities in the course of diarrhoea between the herds, and one herd was considerably more affected than the others. Within this herd, NNPDS seemed to be associated with a higher mortality, whereas in general the study did not show lethal effects of NNPDS

Associations between Antibacterial Treatment and the Prevalence of Tail- Biting-Related Sequelae in Danish Finishers at Slaughter

Secondary infections as a result of tail biting cause substantial economic losses in pig production and are a subject of concern for animal welfare. The use of first-choice antibacterial agents in the treatment of tail biting in finishing pigs is hypothesized to be negatively correlated with the development of systemic infection. This would be expected to reduce the prevalence of post-mortem pyemic sequelae (such as osteomyelitis and abscesses) in finishers with tail-bite lesions. We performed a register-based study that included three Danish databases, holding information on the purchase of antibacterials at herd level (VetStat), herd demographics (Central Husbandry Register), and relevant observations at slaughter (meat inspection data). We included all finishers from indoor production finisher herds that met the inclusion criterion of at least one slaughtered finisher with a recorded tail-bite observation during 2015 at the single largest Danish abattoir. The final dataset held 1,070 herds with one or more tail-bite observations, from which 14,411 of 2,906,626 finishers (0.50%) had an individual record of a tail bite. Within this group of finishers with tail-bite observations, the recorded tail-biting-related sequelae included osteomyelitis (8.1%), abscesses in the hindquarters (10.5%), abscesses in the forequarters (2.3%), abscesses in the mid-section of the carcass (2.9%), abscesses in the limbs (2.4%), and chronic arthritis (0.5%). Due to a high-herd prevalence (>25%), osteomyelitis and abscesses in the hindquarters were selected for further analysis. The occurrence of osteomyelitis and hindquarter abscesses in individual finishers with tail-bite observations was described using a generalized linear mixed effects model with binomial response and logit link. Herd was included as a random effect, while herd size and various antibacterial treatments were tested for inclusion in the model as fixed effects. The final models indicated a significant association between herd size and both osteomyelitis (p = 0.014) and hindquarter abscesses (p < 0.001), with larger herds (2,001–12,000 registered finisher pigs) showing a reduced risk. Further, a negative association was found between the occurrence of hindquarter abscesses and the use of oral pleuromutilin (p = 0.022). The significant association with herd size highlights the potential importance of management factors in reducing the occurrence of tail-bite lesions in finishing pigs

Reporting the national antimicrobial consumption in Danish pigs:influence of assigned daily dosage values and population measurement

BACKGROUND: Transparent calculation methods are crucial when investigating trends in antimicrobial consumption over time and between populations. Until 2011, one single standardized method was applied when quantifying the Danish pig antimicrobial consumption with the unit “Animal Daily Dose” (ADD). However, two new methods for assigning values for ADDs have recently emerged, one implemented by DANMAP, responsible for publishing annual reports on antimicrobial consumption, and one by the Danish Veterinary and Food Administration (DVFA), responsible for the Yellow Card initiative. In addition to new ADD assignment methods, Denmark has also experienced a shift in the production pattern, towards a larger export of live pigs. The aims of this paper were to (1) describe previous and current ADD assignment methods used by the major Danish institutions and (2) to illustrate how ADD assignment method and choice of population and population measurement affect the calculated national antimicrobial consumption in pigs (2007–2013). RESULTS: The old VetStat ADD-values were based on SPCs in contrast to the new ADD-values, which were based on active compound, concentration and administration route. The new ADD-values stated by both DANMAP and DVFA were only identical for 48 % of antimicrobial products approved for use in pigs. From 2007 to 2013, the total number of ADDs per year increased by 9 % when using the new DVFA ADD-values, but decreased by 2 and 7 % when using the new DANMAP ADD-values or the old VetStat ADD-values, respectively. Through 2007 to 2013, the production of pigs increased from 26.1 million pigs per year with 18 % exported live to 28.7 million with 34 % exported live. In the same time span, the annual pig antimicrobial consumption increased by 22.2 %, when calculated using the new DVFA ADD-values and pigs slaughtered per year as population measurement (13.0 ADDs/pig/year to 15.9 ADDs/pig/year). However, when based on the old VetStat ADD values and pigs produced per year (including live export), a 10.9 % decrease was seen (10.6 ADDs/pig/year to 9.4 ADDs/pig/year). CONCLUSION: The findings of this paper clearly highlight that calculated national antimicrobial consumption is highly affected by chosen population measurement and the applied ADD-values

Within-day repeatability for absolute quantification of Lawsonia intracellularis bacteria in feces from growing pigs

Absolute quantification of Lawsonia intracellularis by real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is now possible on a routine basis. Poor repeatability of quantification can result in disease status misclassification of individual pigs when a single fecal sample is obtained. The objective of the current study was to investigate overall variation within a day for fecal numbers of L. intracellularis bacteria determined by real-time PCR in growing pigs. From each of 30 pigs with an infection of L. intracellularis, 5 fecal samples were collected within 1 day. A total of 150 fecal samples were obtained and subjected to quantitative PCR (qPCR) testing. Mean fecal dry matter content was 14.3% (standard deviation = 4.5%). Two pigs (6.7%) alternated between being L. intracellularis qPCR positive and negative. For 28 pigs, the excreting levels of L. intracellularis were within the dynamic range of the qPCR assay at all sampling points. For these 28 pigs, the mean excretion level of L. intracellularis was 6.1 log10 bacteria/g feces (standard deviation = 1.2 log10 bacteria/g feces). The maximum observed difference between 2 fecal samples from the same pig was 1.1 log10 bacteria/g feces. The average standard deviation for individual pigs was 0.27 log10 bacteria/g feces. The average coefficient of variation within pigs was 0.04, ranging from 0.006 to 0.08. The results imply that absolute quantification of L. intracellularis by qPCR has acceptable repeatability within 1 day. However, a population-specific proportion of pigs alternating between positive and negative test results must be expected. </jats:p