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Animals
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Porcine Herd Health Management
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Porcine Herd Health Management

A special issue of Animals (ISSN 2076-2615). This special issue belongs to the section "Pigs".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 June 2022) | Viewed by 18056

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Vasileios Papatsiros

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Guest Editor
Department of Medicine, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Thessaly, 43100 Karditsa, Greece
Interests: porcine medicine; porcine herd health management; porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV); porcine-circovirus-associated diseases (PCVAD); porcine respiratory disease complex (PRDC); reproductive diseases in sows and boars; welfare and production; heat stress; alternatives to antibiotics; vaccines; feed additives; mycotoxins; zoonoses
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Dimitrios Gougoulis

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Assistant Professor of Production Animals Health Management, Department of Clinical Veterinary Medicine, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Thessaly, 43100 Karditsa, Greece
Interests: veterinary medicine; veterinary clinical practice; herd health management; use of antimicrobials in veterinary medicine; cattle; small ruminants; sheep; goats
Dr. Eleni Tzika

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Clinic of Farm Animals, School of Veterinary Medicine, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54627 Thessaloniki, Greece
Interests: pig; porcine herd health management; porcine medicine; swine diseases; vaccinology; alternatives to antibiotics
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Panagiotis Tassis

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Clinic of Farm Animals, School of Veterinary Medicine, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54627 Thessaloniki, Greece
Interests: pig; porcine herd health management; porcine medicine; porcine reproduction; swine diseases; animal welfare; vaccinology; alternatives to antibiotics; mycotoxins; mycotoxin adsorbents
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Designing and communicating health strategies for swine herds requires a very different approach to that used for individual animals. Health disorders in swine farms are generally caused by multiple factors, including infectious and non-infectious agents. For this reason, the clinical picture of health problems in swine farms results usually from the interaction of pathogens, management and environmental factors.

Moreover, health management plays a key role in the productivity of farms. In field conditions, veterinarians have to develop and follow a herd health program, including special issues on diagnosis, treatments, vaccinations, nutrition and biosecurity. Herd health management is also important for the producers in order to ensure the health status and the productivity of the farm. Therefore, it is important to understand the fundamental terms of herd health management strategies in order to monitor and review health issues, risk factors and diagnostic tools that can be used to improve the health and productive parameters of swine farms.

Original manuscripts that address any aspects of porcine herd health management are sought for this Special Issue. Topics of special interest are porcine herd health management, porcine medicine, swine diseases and reproduction, genetics, housing, nutrition and epidemiology. Additional topics include aspects of animal welfare and ethics, legislation, food safety and biosecurity.

Dr. Vasileios Papatsiros
Dr. Dimitris A. Gougoulis
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Animals is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • porcine herd health management
  • porcine medicine
  • swine diseases
  • reproduction
  • animal welfare
  • nutrition
  • epidemiology and biosecurity

Published Papers (7 papers)

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Research

9 pages, 674 KiB  
Article
Magnetic Resonance Imaging Used to Define the Optimum Needle Length in Pigs of Different Ages
by Maren Bernau, Ulrike Gerster and Armin Manfred Scholz
Animals 2022, 12(15), 1936; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani12151936 - 29 Jul 2022
Viewed by 1267
Abstract
Intramuscular injections result in tissue destruction and alteration. Therefore, it is necessary to evaluate the optimum injection point for intramuscular injections. As animals—especially pigs—vary in size and explicit information about injection depth is not available. To determine the predicted optimum injection depth, magnetic [...] Read more.
Intramuscular injections result in tissue destruction and alteration. Therefore, it is necessary to evaluate the optimum injection point for intramuscular injections. As animals—especially pigs—vary in size and explicit information about injection depth is not available. To determine the predicted optimum injection depth, magnetic resonance imaging was used in pigs of different ages and weight groups. In total, 730 magnetic resonance images of 136 pigs were used to calculate the optimum injection depth for intramuscular injections. Four age groups were evaluated: <29 days of age, 29–70 days of age, 71–117 days of age and >170 days of age. For fattening pigs (71–117 days of age), the present study recommends a needle length of 20 mm (range: 40–58 mm). For younger pigs (<70 days of age), a needle length of 12 to 14 mm (range: 10–18 mm), and for older pigs (>170 days of age), a needle length of 30 mm (range: 25–37 mm) is recommended. However, more data are needed. Therefore, further studies are necessary, especially in the youngest (suckling pigs) and oldest (sows) age groups, as these are the groups mainly injected/vaccinated. Additionally, age and weight should be examined in more detail compared to fat distribution in the neck, genetics and the sex of the animal. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Porcine Herd Health Management)
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18 pages, 1490 KiB  
Article
Causes of Sow Mortality and Risks to Post-Mortem Findings in a Brazilian Intensive Swine Production System
by Matheus Saliba Monteiro, Débora Novais Matias, André Pegoraro Poor, Maurício Cabral Dutra, Luisa Zanolli Moreno, Beatriz Martins Parra, Ana Paula Santos Silva, Carlos Emílio Cabrera Matajira, Vasco Túlio de Moura Gomes, Mikaela Renata Funada Barbosa, Maria Inês Zanoli Sato and Andrea Micke Moreno
Animals 2022, 12(14), 1804; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani12141804 - 14 Jul 2022
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 2255
Abstract
The present study was conducted to investigate the risk factors for post-mortem findings and causes of sow mortality. A post-mortem examination and microbiological investigation were conducted on 123 sows from a breeding herd with 15,000 dams. The mortality of spontaneous death in sows [...] Read more.
The present study was conducted to investigate the risk factors for post-mortem findings and causes of sow mortality. A post-mortem examination and microbiological investigation were conducted on 123 sows from a breeding herd with 15,000 dams. The mortality of spontaneous death in sows occurred mostly in the peripartum period (53%; p < 0.05). The spontaneous deaths were associated with heart failures, hemorrhagic and perforating gastric ulcers, and liver torsion, while in the euthanized sows, the post-mortem findings were associated with locomotor disorders. A higher body condition score (BCS ≥ 3.5) increased (p < 0.05) heart failure on the post-mortem examination. The excessive use of manual obstetric interventions increased sow deaths resulting from cervix/uterus ruptures and increased the odds of death (p < 0.05) due to metritis. Sow mortality had a multifactorial etiology. Infections were polymicrobial. The main microbial agents identified from a septic lesion in locomotor, genitourinary, and respiratory systems were Trueperella pyogenes, Escherichia coli, and Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae, respectively. In conclusion, sow mortality involved multiple risk factors and several bacterial agents. These results indicate that better management practices can reduce sow mortality in swine production and increase sow welfare. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Porcine Herd Health Management)
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23 pages, 914 KiB  
Article
Evidence-Based Recommendations for Herd Health Management of Porcine Post-Weaning Diarrhea
by Esben Østergaard Eriksen, Ken Steen Pedersen, Inge Larsen and Jens Peter Nielsen
Animals 2022, 12(14), 1737; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani12141737 - 06 Jul 2022
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2571
Abstract
Aided by their advising veterinarians, pig producers need to make difficult decisions regarding herd health management strategies. For instance, the preventive use of antimicrobials and medicinal zinc oxide must be substituted with more sustainable preventive approaches to porcine post-weaning diarrhea. Veterinarians and pig [...] Read more.
Aided by their advising veterinarians, pig producers need to make difficult decisions regarding herd health management strategies. For instance, the preventive use of antimicrobials and medicinal zinc oxide must be substituted with more sustainable preventive approaches to porcine post-weaning diarrhea. Veterinarians and pig producers may find assistance in knowledge based on evidence in this regard; however, the overwhelming scientific literature is not always readily available. The overall aim of this paper is to suggest herd health management decision-support tools that can aid veterinary-assisted decision making in the control of porcine post-weaning diarrhea at a tactical level. The first objective was to validate the need for a herd health management concept, including two decision-support tools. The second objective was to develop evidence-based recommendations that can aid veterinary-assisted decision-making for the herd health management of post-weaning diarrhea. The first objective was investigated by a questionnaire-based study among veterinary pig practitioners in Denmark. For the second objective, we conducted a scientific summary based on scientific review papers identified through a systematic search in three databases. From the papers, we synthesized and extracted 79 specific recommendations. In this paper, we report comprehensive evidence-based recommendations for the herd health management of post-weaning diarrhea. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Porcine Herd Health Management)
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15 pages, 1351 KiB  
Article
Cross-Sectional Survey of Antibiotic Resistance in Extended Spectrum β-Lactamase-Producing Enterobacteriaceae Isolated from Pigs in Greece
by Nikolaos Tsekouras, Zoi Athanasakopoulou, Celia Diezel, Polychronis Kostoulas, Sascha D. Braun, Marina Sofia, Stefan Monecke, Ralf Ehricht, Dimitris C. Chatzopoulos, Dominik Gary, Domenique Krähmer, Vassiliki Spyrou, Georgios Christodoulopoulos, Charalambos Billinis and Vasileios G. Papatsiros
Animals 2022, 12(12), 1560; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani12121560 - 16 Jun 2022
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2121
Abstract
This study aimed to estimate the prevalence of extended-spectrum β-lactamase-producing (ESBL) bacteria in swine. Thus, 214 fecal samples were collected from suckling and weaned piglets from 34 farms in Greece (out of an overall population of about 14,300 sows). A subset of 78 [...] Read more.
This study aimed to estimate the prevalence of extended-spectrum β-lactamase-producing (ESBL) bacteria in swine. Thus, 214 fecal samples were collected from suckling and weaned piglets from 34 farms in Greece (out of an overall population of about 14,300 sows). A subset of 78 (36.5%) ESBL producers were identified as E. coli (69/78, 88.5%), K. pneumoniae spp. pneumoniae (3.8%), P. mirabilis (5.1%), E. cloacae complex (1.3%) and S. enterica spp. diarizonae (1.3%). Resistance to at least one class of non-β-lactam antibiotics was detected in 78 isolates. Among the E. coli strains, resistance was identified with regard to aminoglycosides (n = 31), fluoroquinolones (n = 49), tetracycline (n = 26) and trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole (n = 46). Of the three K. pneumoniae spp. pneumoniae, two displayed resistances to aminoglycosides and all were resistant to fluoroquinolones, tetracyclines and trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole. As for the four P. mirabilis isolates, three had a resistant phenotype for aminoglycosides and all were resistant to imipenem, fluoroquinolones, tetracyclines and trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole. Molecular characterization of the isolates revealed the presence of CTX-M, SHV and TEM genes, as well as of genes conferring resistance to fluoroquinolones, aminoglycosides, sulfonamides, trimethoprim, macrolides and colistin. High levels of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) were demonstrated in Greek swine herds posing a concern for the efficacy of treatments at the farm level as well as for public health. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Porcine Herd Health Management)
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16 pages, 1308 KiB  
Article
Heterologous Challenge with PRRSV-1 MLV in Pregnant Vaccinated Gilts: Potential Risk on Health and Immunity of Piglets
by Georgios Papakonstantinou, Eleftherios Meletis, Georgios Christodoulopoulos, Eleni D. Tzika, Polychronis Kostoulas and Vasileios G. Papatsiros
Animals 2022, 12(4), 450; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani12040450 - 12 Feb 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2304
Abstract
The objective of the present study was to evaluate the potential risks of the four commercial PRRS-1 MLV vaccines in pregnant vaccinated gilts at the last stage of gestation under field conditions. The study was conducted at four pig farms, including 25 gilts [...] Read more.
The objective of the present study was to evaluate the potential risks of the four commercial PRRS-1 MLV vaccines in pregnant vaccinated gilts at the last stage of gestation under field conditions. The study was conducted at four pig farms, including 25 gilts from each farm (25 × 4 = 100 gilts), which were equally allocated to five different study groups. A PRRS-1 MLV vaccination was applied on the 100th day of their pregnancy with the different commercial vaccines that are available in the Greek market. The results indicated virus congenital infection and viremia in piglets (20/200 = 10% PRRSV infected piglets), and detection of PRRSV-specific antibodies (181/200 = 90.5% piglets found with PRRSV antibodies). The subsequent phylogenetic analyses revealed high percentages of similarity between the PRRSV-1 strain detected in infected litters and the PRRSV-1 vaccine strain to which the study gilts had been previously exposed to. Health status analyses of trial piglets resulted in differences between litters from vaccinated sows and litters from non-vaccinated sows at 110th day of gestation as regards the number of weak-born piglets, mummies, and piglets with splay-leg and/or respiratory symptoms. The current study’s results indicate several potential dangers of the PRRS MLV vaccination in late gestation. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Porcine Herd Health Management)
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17 pages, 1777 KiB  
Article
Water Distribution Systems in Pig Farm Buildings: Critical Elements of Design and Management
by Stephen Little, Andrew Woodward, Glenn Browning and Helen Billman-Jacobe
Animals 2021, 11(11), 3268; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11113268 - 15 Nov 2021
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2055
Abstract
Drinking water distribution systems (WDSs) within buildings on pig farms have critical elements of their design and management that impact water provision to pigs, water quality, the efficacy of in-water antimicrobial dosing, and, thus, pig health and performance. We used a mixed-methods approach [...] Read more.
Drinking water distribution systems (WDSs) within buildings on pig farms have critical elements of their design and management that impact water provision to pigs, water quality, the efficacy of in-water antimicrobial dosing, and, thus, pig health and performance. We used a mixed-methods approach to survey managers of 25 medium to large single-site and multi-site pig farming enterprises across eastern and southern Australia. We found wide variation in the configuration (looped or branched) and total length of WDSs within buildings across farms and in pipe materials and diameters. Within many conventional buildings and some eco-shelters, WDSs were ‘over-sized’, comprising large-diameter main pipelines with high holding volumes, resulting in slow velocity water flows through sections of a WDS’s main pipeline. In over half of the weaner buildings and one-third of grower/finisher buildings, the number of pigs per drinker exceeded the recommended maximum. Few farms measured flow rates from drinkers quantitatively. WDS sanitization was not practiced on many farms, and few managers were aware of the risks to water quality and pig health. We identified important aspects of water provision to pigs for which valuable recommendations could be added to industry guidelines available to pig farm managers. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Porcine Herd Health Management)
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10 pages, 2373 KiB  
Article
Maternally Derived Antibody Levels Influence on Vaccine Protection against PCV2d Challenge
by István Kiss, Krisztina Szigeti, Zalán G. Homonnay, Vivien Tamás, Han Smits and Roman Krejci
Animals 2021, 11(8), 2231; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11082231 - 29 Jul 2021
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 3287
Abstract
Piglets from a porcine circovirus type 2 (PCV2) stable farm of low and high levels of maternally derived antibodies (MDA) against PCV2 were vaccinated either with a whole virus type or a PCV2 ORF2 antigen-based commercial subunit vaccine at three weeks of age. [...] Read more.
Piglets from a porcine circovirus type 2 (PCV2) stable farm of low and high levels of maternally derived antibodies (MDA) against PCV2 were vaccinated either with a whole virus type or a PCV2 ORF2 antigen-based commercial subunit vaccine at three weeks of age. Two non-vaccinated groups served as low and high MDA positive controls. At four weeks post vaccination, all piglets were challenged with a PCV2d-2 type virus strain and were checked for parameters related to vaccine protection over a four-week observation period. MDA levels evidently impacted the outcome of the PCV2d-2 challenge in non-vaccinated animals, while it did not have a significant effect on vaccine-induced protection levels. The humoral immune response developed faster in the whole virus vaccinates than in the subunit vaccinated pigs in the low MDA groups. Further, high MDA levels elicited a stronger negative effect on the vaccine-induced humoral immune response for the subunit vaccine than for the whole virus vaccine. The group-based oral fluid samples and the group mean viraemia and faecal shedding data correlated well, enabling this simple, and animal welfare-friendly sampling method for the evaluation of the PCV2 viral load status of these nursery piglets. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Porcine Herd Health Management)
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