Nursery Death Loss: Diagnosis, Control and Treatment

Posted by Dr. Brian Dorcey on January 29 2009 10:23

Acceptable Death Loss (Post Circo Vaccination)

• Wean to Finish - 6-8%
• Finish (80-240) - 3-4 %
• Grower (30-80) - 2-3%
• Nursery (12-30) - 2-4%

Important "things to know"

• Do the pigs have a fever >103 F
• What clinical signs are present
• Are pigs responding to treatment
• Are you able to identify pigs prior to their death
• Are all pigs affected or only certain pens

Catagorize the death loss

What age are the pigs when they die

• Early nursery or week 1
• Middle nursery or grower

What percentage are

• Sudden death loss
• Fall back, guant pigs
• Diarrhea pigs

If death loss is higher than "normal"

• Need to do diagnostics
• Send pig parts to VMC/PLS
• Call PLS staff for direction and will discuss previous questions

Diarrhea problems in Nursery: consider the following

• E.coli- beta hemolytic
• Salmonella
• Rota Virus
• TGE
• Coccidiosis

Sudden Death Loss: consider the following

• Streptococcus suis
• Haemophilus parasuis
• Salmonella

Fall Back & Guant Pigs: consider the following

• PRRS
• Circo Virus
• Haemophilus parasuis
• E.coli- beta hemolytic

TGE (Transmissible gastroenteritis)

• Virus that causes physical damage to the intestine. Removes the villi from the intestine.
• TGE is very severe and damages the intestine
• Try to keep this out of your herd with proper biosecurity
• Vaccines are available to assist with control

Rota Virus

• Virus that blunts the tip of the villus of the intestine
• Often seem with E.coli and Clostridium
• Vaccines to sows are helpful
• Usually goes away once pigs are in the nursery

Coccidiosis

• A protozoal parasite that causes damage to the intestine
• Typically a problem in the farrowing house
• Usually not a big problem in the nursery
• Treat with Amproleum in the water if a problem

Salmonella Disease

• Salmonella causes sudden death loss
• Salmonella causes chronic waster pig
• Salmonella has different serotypes that can change the clinical picture
• Both vaccines appear to have good cross protection to S. typhimurium

Salmonella Vaccines are effective

• Two choices in the industry
  
  • SC 54- Boerhinger
  • Argus- Intervet
• Need to give prior to exposure
• Proper administration technique
• Can give the vaccines intranasally to prevent early infections

E.coli- beta Hemolytic

• Pigs have severe diarrhea or they have septicemia (sudden death loss)
• Common problem in weaned pigs up to 25 pounds of body weight
• Commonly see problems when pigs go from pellets to grind mix diets
• See purplish belly & purplish ears on the pigs
• Post Mortems show purplish or bloody looking intestines
• Intestinal content has bloody color to contents

Comparing Options for Beta hemolytic E.coli F18-K88

• Antibiotics
• Nutrition
• Management
  • Cleanliness & disinfectants
• Water
• Vaccines or live exposure to avirulent strains
• Genetics

Nutrition Options for E.coli

• EC Pak- egg antibodies
• Protillus- probiotics and peat
• Diet formulation
  • Limited SBM
  • Plasma proteins
  • Zinc Oxide - 3000 ppm

Antibiotic Treatment Options

• FVC- RFK egg antibody in water
• Neomycin in the water
• Trisulfaprim in the water
• Injectable Excede

Streptococcus suis

• Bacterial disease affects all ages
• Spread by secretions from sow or gilt
• Spread by entry at wounds (castration, needle teeth, tail docking)
• Clinical disease shows up as
  
  • Brainer (CNS) paddling pigs
  • Pneumonia
  • Joint infections

Streptococcus bacteria Classification

• Different Streptococcus classifications in different animals or species
  • Mastitis in cows
  • Joints problems in lambs
  • Strangles in horses
• Different Streps within pigs
  • Streptococcus suis
  • Streptococcus equisimilus
  • Streptococcus species

Streptococcus suis classification

• Different serotypes or strains
• Streptococcus suis type 1
• Types 1 through 13
• Some Nontypable strains
• Within strains there can be antigenic differences that affect immunity

Management factors that increase incidence of Strep. suis

• Poor Ventilation
• Increase percentage of gilts farrowing
• Clipping of needle teeth
• Poor sanitation of processing piglets
• PRRS or other diseases
• Not rotating disinfectants

Antibiotic use to control Strep

• Add antibiotic to iron mixtures
  • Ampicillin
  • Penicillin
  • Lincomycin
• Naxcel pre-weaning programming (Excede)
• LA 200 programs
• Amoxicillin or water medication pulse in the nursery

Streptococcus suis vaccine applications

• Given to sows prefarrow to prevent problems in the farrowing house and the first two weeks in the nursery
• Given to piglets at castration and at weaning time to prevent early disease in the nursery
• Given to piglets at weaning and 3 weeks later to prevent disease in late nursery or finisher

Haemophilus parasuis: Glasser's Disease

• Bacterial disease that has a sudden onset
• Clinical signs of disease include
  
  • Cough or pneumonia
  • Joint infection
  • Poor doing, hairy pig
• Pigs pick this up from the sow, gilt or other pigs

Haemphilus parasuis has different strains

• Different strains of parasuis cause different levels of disease
• Some strains cause no problems
• Some strains cause severe problems

Genetic sequencing allows different H. parasuis isolates to be compared

• Differences can be viewed
• Strains can be compared over time
• Certain patterns will cause more disease

Do Haemophilus parasuis vaccines work??

• Need to have the right stain
• Need to repeat lab work to insure that you have the correct strain
• Vaccines do work

Haemophilus parasuis vaccine applications

• Traditional killed vaccines
  • Given to Sows or gilts prefarrow
  • Given to piglets on the sows or at weaning time
• New Research Vaccine
  • Newport Labs has a new Haemophilus bacterial vaccine. This is a modified live bacteria given to piglets.

Circo Virus

• Vaccines have been very effective
• If given too early can have some interference with maternal antibodies
• Use of vaccines have eliminatd or decreased the clinical signs of Circo