Treatment Techniques and Prevention Methods for Porcine Red Skin Disease

Porcine red skin disease is caused by mosquito- and fly-borne Eperythrozoon suis invading the pig's blood. Its outbreak shows obvious seasonality, generally occurring suddenly in May to June each year when high temperature and high humidity prevail and mosquitoes and flies multiply in large numbers. Below is an introduction to disease prevention in pig farming: treatment techniques for porcine “red skin disease”!

I. The pathogen of porcine red skin disease

Eperythrozoon suis has no seasonality and can occur throughout the year, but the incidence rate is higher in summer and autumn. It is presumed to be transmitted through blood-sucking insects, contaminated needles and instruments, and breeding. Poor environmental conditions, harsh climate, various stresses, and concurrent infections are factors that lower the pig's immune function and can trigger an outbreak in latently infected pigs or worsen symptoms. Pigs of all ages can be affected, but piglets and growing pigs are more commonly affected, and the mortality rate is higher. Sows are susceptible to the disease after farrowing due to decreased resistance, mainly manifesting as bleeding from the pores and stubborn anorexia, but the mortality rate is not high.

II. Clinical symptoms of porcine red skin disease

1. Acute onset: high fever, death within half an hour, the whole litter dying within 2 days. The disease strikes suddenly with the pig lying on the ground unable to stand, listless, with limb convulsions, poor appetite or complete loss of appetite, body temperature above 40-41 degrees C, and purplish-red patches that do not fade when pressed.

2. Chronic onset: sick pigs show reduced appetite, coughing, dry and hard feces, pale conjunctiva, cyanosis of both ears, cold and dry ear tips, and a relatively long course of disease.

3. Onset in piglets and fattening pigs: the earliest symptom is fever, with body temperature reaching above 40 degrees C, persistent high fever, shivering, and huddling together; feed intake drops significantly, and the whole body skin turns red, commonly known as porcine red skin disease. Some pigs develop redness on the ears, abdomen, and limbs first, followed by purple patches. After one month, piglets show anemia, jaundice, and poor growth, becoming runt pigs or dying within a few days.

4. Onset in sows: mainly manifested as body temperature above 40 degrees C, persistent high fever for several days, anorexia, constipation, diffuse redness of the whole body, reluctance to stand. In late gestation, sows are prone to miscarriage or an increased number of stillbirths. Some sows show weakness, pallor, and jaundice symptoms, and after farrowing develop mastitis, agalactia, or insufficient milk production.

III. Prevention and treatment of porcine red skin disease

1. Prevent transmission by insect vectors

In summer and autumn, pay attention to spraying insecticides to repel or eliminate blood-sucking insects. The entire pig herd should be injected with avermectin once; each pig house, especially warm nursery houses, should be sprayed with Mie Hai Ling once a day for 3 consecutive days, or sprayed with mosquito and fly killer dissolved in water on the pig houses and pig bodies once every 5-7 days, which gives a good insecticidal effect. Although insects in pig houses are very difficult to completely eliminate, reducing the transmission of pathogens between pigs also reduces the incidence rate in pigs.

2. Regular drug prevention and treatment

Drug prevention is one of the important methods for controlling pig diseases and can effectively reduce the occurrence rate of Eperythrozoon suis. Drugs for prevention can be mixed into feed: mix Fuzheng Zengmian Guanjia into feed at 500 g per 500 kg of feed; mix Hungan Yijunsu into feed at 1000 g per 1000 kg of feed for 5-7 consecutive days, with the first dose doubled.

The above is Tuliu.com's introduction to the prevention and treatment of porcine red skin disease. Sanitation in pig houses, control of temperature and humidity, and disinfection must still be given attention. This can not only reduce the occurrence of Eperythrozoon suis disease but also greatly reduce other pig diseases.