Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
tagious. However, there have been no outbreaks of hog cholera in the United States since
1976. Officials remain vigilant. African swine fever resembles hog cholera, and it is present in
the United States. Any pig that displays a high fever should be isolated to prevent contagion.
African swine fever has symptoms that are very similar to hog cholera. Lab tests usually are
needed to be able to distinguish African swine fever from hog cholera. Otherwise, the virus
exhibits the same sudden onset. Pigs may be found suddenly dead. Pigs may have high fever,
lack of appetite, and seem listless. The pig may show red or blue areas on its chest or stomach
and on its extremities. There is diarrhea, problems breathing, vomiting, and miscarriage in
pregnant sows. When these symptoms occur, virtually all pigs exhibiting them will die within
one week. If a pig does recover, it will be a carrier for the virus throughout its life.
African swine fever is spread from one pig to another. There is no effective treatment or vac-
cine at this time. When African swine fever appears in a herd, it is essential to slaughter the
herd immediately before the virus can spread to other farms. Otherwise, the entire pig popula-
tion is at risk. Everything on the farm must be cleaned and disinfected, or discarded. A quar-
antine or isolation zone may be set up around the area to see if other farms may show signs of
the illness.
Parvovirus:
Parvovirus is believed to be widely present in pig herds. It does not have notice-
able outward symptoms or cause death in mature animals. Instead, parvovirus results in repro-
ductive problems. Parvovirus infection can lead to miscarriages in the sow between day 12
and 20 after breeding and a delay coming in season for rebreeding. Once infected, the sow can
continue to lose litters and be slow to come in season, or to come in heat again for rebreeding.
There is no treatment for pigs with parvovirus.
There is a vaccination against parvovirus. Buying disease-free pigs from established farmers
who have no reproductive problems is another safeguard. You also can maintain a closed
herd, meaning that you do not bring in new pigs that could pass along diseases to your pigs. If
you do have new pigs, it is best to pen your current gilts and dry (unbred) sows near them a
few weeks before breeding. This way they can be exposed to any potential viruses or germs
before breeding and develop antibodies. Later, after breeding, it would be more dangerous to
incubate any new virus because it would cause a loss of the embryos. The gilts and sows then
will be able to pass their antibodies to parvovirus or any other viruses along to their piglets.
You can then have the piglets vaccinated for parvovirus when they are a few weeks old. Keep-
ing your gilts and sows up-to-date on their vaccinations is always recommended.
