Pigs Reproductive Disorders and Diseases

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These include, Brucellosis, mastitis, leptospirosis, endometritis and agalactia. 

Anaphrodisias 

When the sow does not come on heat 

Symptoms: 

• No heat signs
  This could be caused by low body weight due to poor feeding, overweight, mineral deficiency, intestinal worms, chronic disease, the animal has just given birth, heavy infestation with parasites

Prevention:

• Improve feeding of mineral-rich feeds. 
• Regularly deworm your animals. 
• Allow the female to stay with the boar.

Treatment:

• Gilts should not be treated at all because they may show anaphrodisias after every litter
• Sows should be treated on the same day as weaning, and in very severe cases, 3 weeks after weaning
• Repeating treatment is of no use

Parvo (smedi) (virus)

Symptoms:

• Birth of a small litter at the normal time due to Early Embryoric Death (EED) with mummies of different ages together with fresh or macerated dead foetuses and weak living piglets which die in few days.

Prevention and treatment

• No therapy 
• Vaccination of all gilts and sows before pregnancy

Leptospirosis (Bacteria)

Symptoms:

• Fever, anorexia, diarrhoea, bloody urine, nervous symptons caused by meningitis.
• Abortion in last three months of pregnancy. 
• In sows which are affected later, weak piglets are born. 
• Mummified and macerated foetuses are common in the litters. 
• Infertility associated with venereal spread may be responsible for repeat breeders.

Prevention and treatment:

• Elimination of mice and rats and other rodents. 
• Vaccination and hygienic measures. Vaccines are not available for all types of the diseases and vaccination may not prevent bloody urine. 
• Treat all sows with injection or streptomycin before serving. 
• Use antibiotibics especially streptomycin for all ages.

Brucellosis

Symptoms:

• Anorexia, fever, stiff legs, occasional lameness, early abortion (returns to oestrus 5 – 8 weeks after service as a result of infection of service)
• Infection later in pregnancy gives rise to litter with mummified, still born or weak piglets. 
• Bloody vulva discharge and endometritis. 
• Retained placenta. 
• Boars usually develop orchitis (inflammation of one or both testicles) and epididymitis within seven days of infection. 
• The testicles are swollen and painful and permanent sterility can be the result

Prevention and treatment

• Prevention is based on hygienic measures and purchase of stock from clean herds only. 
• Never treat by antibiotics. 
• No treatment/vaccination is 100% effective
• Slaughter all animals and do restocking. Restocking should be after one month.

Uterine Prolapse

Symptoms:

• The appearance of the uterus outside the vulva.

Prevention and treatment:

• Uterine prolapse reduction is often not possible since it is very traumatic and the best therapy is to amputate the whole uterus. However 50% of sows do not survive this operation, therefore slaughter should be considered.

Mastitis

Bacteria infection causes an inflammation of the mammary organ and results in changes in milk production. These bacteria enter the wounds in the udder. 

Symptoms

• Swollen, hot and painful udder. 
• Absence or reduction of milk in the affected udder. 
• Sow refuses to suckle her piglets. As a result, piglets squeal due to hunger. 
• Sow has depression and often fever.

Prevention:

• Provide adequate bedding 
• Keep pig pens clean, dry and free of sharp objects, clip milk teeth of baby pigs. 

Treatment:

• Gently massage the affected udder with lukewarm water. 
• Do not allow the young to suck milk from the infected sow. 
• Remove the milk from the infected udder and discard. 
• Separate sow from piglets and reduce access to teats (allow a few piglets to suckle at a time). If possible, foster piglets to lactating mothers. 
• Use antibiotics. Inject penicillin-streptomycin into the muscle of hip or neck. 

Endometritis (bacteria)

Symptoms

• Vulval discharge of vaginal or uterine origin during urination. 
• In case of metrititis, fever and agalactia may occur.

Prevention and treatment

• Antimicrobial by injection or locally by irrigation of the uterus and vagina, oxytocin can be given to stimulate uteric contractions once or twice a day. 
• Hygiene.

Diseases and Disorders of Digestive TractScouring

• Hygienic measures should be taken to avoid or minimize scouring incidence.
• Regular deworming should also be done as a control measure to scouring
• Feed changes should be gradual and not drastic to avoid scouring

Diarrhoea/Enteritis1) Birth diarrhoea

Symptoms

• Acute diarrhoea in piglets is watery, yellowish grey and within a very short time piglets become thin with sunken eyes due to dehydration. 
• Death can occur within 2 – 3 days. Death in piglets can occur even within one day before any sign of diarrhoea is observed.

Prevention 

• Keep pens, feed and watering troughs clean.
• Separate affected animals from healthy animals.
• Do not change abruptly an animal’s ration. 
• Make sure that piglets have sufficient colostrum within 36 hours of birth

Treatment

• Vaccination
• Plenty of drinking water with electrolytes
• Use of antibiotics.
• Herbal medicine: Fresh leaves of guava or star apple (Sapodilla) This will treat the symptoms only. 

2) Red diarrhoea or Clostridial enteritis

Symptoms:

• Acute haemorrhagic or necrotic inflammation of the gut during the first and second week of birth. 
• In acute cases the diarrhoea is watery with an orange-red colour due to blood and is often bubbly. 
• In later stages, shreds of dead tissues can be found. 
• Piglets are weak and don’t suckle. They get pale and die within a few days.

Prevention and treatment

• Vaccination
• Make sure that piglets have sufficient colostrum within 24 hours of birth 
• Keep the pigs warm
• Cleanliness
• Contact the vet

3) Transmissible Gastroenteritis

Transmissible gastroenteritis is a common viral disease of the small intestine that causes vomiting and profuse diarrhoea in pigs of all ages. It spreads rapidly. Piglets less than one-week old rarely survive the disease. Symptoms:

• Very high mortality mainly in piglets upto 14 days old. 
• The piglets often vomit and have severe greenish-yellow watery diarrhoea, dehydration. 
• In sows the diarrhoea is greyish, they vomit, and abortion may occur. 
• In fatteners the symptoms are like those in sows.

Prevention and treatment:

• Give electrolytes to piglets and keep them warm. 
• Antibiotics prevent secondary infection but don’t provide a cure.

4) Fat diarrhoea

Symptoms:

• Faeces are pasty and fatty, white or yellowish

Prevention and treatment

• Remove creep feed for a few days. 
• Use antibiotics as prescribed by a veterinary doctor.

5) Post diarrhoea

Symptoms:

• Diarrhoea with no traces of blood. 
• Death from dehydration or blood poisoning (septicaemia).

Prevention and treatment:

• Increase creep feed before weaning. 
• Avoid stress to piglets by not mixing piglets from different litters. 
• Good hygienic measures include roughage in diet.
• Use antibiotics as prescribed by a veterinary doctor.

Salmonellosis

Symptoms:

• High fever, dullness, anorexia, weakness, nervous symptoms.
• Bluish-red colouring of the ears, limbs and the centre of the belly. 
• Bloody spots all over the body. 
• Wasting and persistent greyish diarrhoea sometimes mixed with blood and shreds or necrotic material from the gut.

Prevention and treatment: 

• Normal hygienic measures, pelleted feed, thorough cooking of the swill. 
• Remove feed for two days and provide clean water. 
• Use antibiotics as prescribed by a veterinary doctor.

Swine Dysentry

Known by a number of names, including bloody diarrhoea, hemorrhagic enteritis bloody scours and black scours. It affects pigs of all ages, sometimes causing death.

Symptoms:

• In acute cases wasting and passing of diarrhoea containing varying amounts of mucus, blood and necrotic material. 
• Fever. 
• In chronic cases, pigs have greyish or brownish faeces, rough hair coat and low growth rate.

Prevention 

• Delay reusing the pens of infected animals.
• Disinfect pens. 

Treatment: 

• Some herbal medicines (Moringa tree leaves) can be used to relieve the symptoms of diarrhoea and dehydration 
• Use antibiotics as prescribed by a veterinary doctor

Post weaning syndrome (oedema disease)

Symptoms:

• Development of oedema and nervous signs. 
• Paleness peculiar squeaky voice. 
• General incoordination and loss of balance. 
• Sudden death.

Prevention and treatment

• Affected piglets should be weaned by removal of sow and placed on low-level diet. 
• Avoid stress. 
• Hygiene. 
• Include roughages in diet. 
• Use antibiotics as prescribed by a veterinary doctor

Diseases of the Respiratory Tract

These include, influenza, pseudorabies, pneumonia, atrophic rhinitis and pasteurellosis.

 Influenza

Symptoms:

• Affected animals are apathetic. 
• Anorexia
• High fever, coughing and sneezing, difficulty in breathing
• Red eyes with discharge
• Loss of condition.

Prevention and treatment:

• Good ventilation. 
• Vaccination. 
• No specific treatment. To prevent secondary infection, use antibiotics as prescribed by a veterinary doctor .

Pleural Pneumonia

Symptoms:

• Acute cases show anorexia, high fever, laboured respiration, red or blue colouring of ear-tips, belly, legs and end of tail. 
• Death within 4 – 6 hours of onset of clinical symptoms. 
• Blood stained froth from mouth or nose. 
• Abortion. 
• In chronic cases, anorexia, coughing and depressed growth rate.

Prevention and treatment:

• Vaccines only prevent mortality. 
• Use antibiotics as prescribed by a veterinary doctor.

Atrophic rhinitis (inflammation of the nose)

Symptoms:

• Sneezing in younger pigs. 
• Shortening or deviation of upper jaw – poor growth

Prevention and treatment:

• Hygiene 
• Use antibiotics as prescribed by a veterinary doctor

Pasteurellosis

Symptoms:

• Coughing
• Breathing through the mouth.

Prevention and treatment:

• Hygiene.
• Use antibiotics as prescribed by a veterinary doctor 

Porcine Respiratory and Reproductive Syndrome (PRRS)

Symptoms:

• Blue ears and forced breathing
• Lactating sows have rough hair coat. 
• Gilts have problem getting on heat and early abortion. 
• High mortality in weaners 
• In boars, high percentage of defective sperm and less libido 

Prevention and treatment: 

• Use of antibiotics as prescribed by a veterinary doctor. 
• Vaccination helps but it is so expensive that it may not be cost effective.

Disease Causing Problems in WalkingArthritis

Symptoms:

• Inflammation of joints. Thick soft joints.

Prevention and treatment: 

• Use antibiotics as prescribed by a veterinary doctor.

Streptococcal infections
 

Symptoms:

• Septicaemia (blood poisoning) which may cause immediate death.
• Young pigs rarely recover
• Sudden death in older pigs.
• Fever, nervous signs and arthritis mostly in weaners and fatteners.

Prevention and treatment: 

• Proper hygiene. Wash sow before it enters the farrowing pen. 
• Use antibiotics as prescribed by a veterinary doctor.

Greasy Pig Disease

Symptoms:

• Thin, pale brown flakes on the skin surface. 
• Wet skin covered with crusts. 
• Rough wet and reddish skin below the crusts, no itching
• Death may occur

Prevention and treatment:

• Avoid fighting among pigs by mixing pigs from different pens. 
• Teeth clipping, soft bedding 
• Hygiene. Wash sows before entering farrowing pen. 
• Use antibiotics as prescribed by a veterinary doctor.

Nutritional Disorders

Anaemia

Symptoms:

• Pale skin, weak piglets with high respiratory rate. 
• Jaundice
• Blood stained faeces.
• Early death

Control and treatment:

• Provide iron injection or oral iron- paste containing iron, depending on the situation – consult a vet or an advisor
• Feeding compost- must be of good quality and supplied daily. Compost of poor quality may contain bacteria.
• Wood ash can also be put into the pen. This will not provide iron, but it does contain other important minerals.

Other Diseases

Foot and mouth disease (FMD)

Foot-and-mouth disease is an acute, highly contagious, viral disease of animals with hooves, such as cattle, water buffalo, goats and pigs. 

Symptoms:

• Sudden onset of severe lameness, fever, formation of vesicles on coronary bands. 
• Blisters can be found on thin-skinned areas like udder, teats, anal area and eyelids. These blisters rupture within one day. 
• There may be frothy saliva, anorexia, sometimes hooves become loose and fall off.
• Sows may abort.

Prevention and treatment:

• Vaccination
• Quarantine 
• Proper cooking of swill.
• Slaughter and burial. 

African Swine Fever (viral)

Symptoms:

• Lesions on the body 
• Fall in temperature before onset of clinical signs. 
• Reddening of skin and ears. 
• Incordination of hind limbs. 
• Constipation diarrhoea, anorexia. 
• The animal dies the next day after the attack. 95 – 100% mortality.

Prevention and treatment:

• Quarantine. 
• Boiling of swill. 
• Restriction of movement of meat from infected areas
• Vaccination
• Disinfection
• No therapy (treatment)

Anthrax (bacterial)

Rare in pigs and associated with contaminated feed containing meat.
Symptoms: 

• Oedema and swelling of the neck region. 
• Dysponea (breathing difficulty). 
• Fever, anorexia and passage of bloody faeces. 
• Sudden death.

Prevention and treatment:

• Use antibiotics (penicillin) as prescribed by a veterinary doctor.
• Thorough disinfection of the farm and burning of carcasses.