Why is the mortality rate of diarrhea higher in piglets than in adult pigs?

When diarrhea occurs in the same way, the mortality rate differs quite greatly between piglets and adult pigs; it may even have little effect on adult pigs, but for piglets it is a fatal disease; the epidemic diarrhea that has circulated in recent years is exactly this situation; why on earth is this so?

First, piglets have a large proportion of water in their bodies, which can account for more than 80% of the body.

Second, the gastrointestinal tract of piglets is especially thin. If the small intestinal villi are damaged, then the intestine is left with only a very thin layer, and in severe cases it may perforate, in which case the pig dies even faster.

Here there is a phenomenon that everyone has not noticed, namely that adult pigs defecate much less frequently, while piglets defecate very frequently; this is directly related to the anus.

The anus of adult pigs has mature sphincter muscles, which can be controlled by the pig. Whether or not to defecate is something the pig has control over; adult pigs control the frequency of defecation, so the water in the intestinal tract is reabsorbed into the body again; therefore, dehydration from diarrhea in adult pigs is often not severe; but piglets have just been born, and the anal sphincter is not yet fully developed, and their control is very weak; once diarrhea occurs, there will be an uncontrollable continuous flow of diarrhea.

Congenital problems cannot be solved, but we can control pig defecation through drugs; controlling the anal sphincter is not very realistic, and there is no specific drug; but we can use another method to stop pigs from having diarrhea, and that is to use drugs to control gastrointestinal motility, and atropine sulfate has this function.

Atropine sulfate is an anticholinergic drug. It binds with M cholinergic receptors and antagonizes the muscarinic effects of acetylcholine and other cholinergic agonists. It mainly relieves spasm of smooth muscle, inhibits glandular secretion, relieves vagal inhibition of the heart, speeds up the heartbeat, dilates the pupils, and raises intraocular pressure; it excites the respiratory center. Clinically it is used for: rescuing infectious toxic shock, relieving organophosphate pesticide poisoning, Adams-Stokes syndrome and visceral colic, and it can also be used for preanesthetic medication, mydriasis, or treatment of keratitis, iritis, etc. Combined with morphine, it is used to treat liver and kidney colic.

Using atropine sulfate to treat diarrhea means slowing gastrointestinal motility. When the gastrointestinal tract does not move, there is no driving force for defecation, so the pig will not have uncontrollable continuous diarrhea.

Therefore, when treating piglet diarrhea, people often use atropine sulfate.