How to prevent and treat swine whipworm disease? Disease prevention methods for farmed pigs

Swine whipworm disease is caused by the swine whipworm (Trichuris suis), also known as swine trichuriasis, and has long been a common problem affecting the development of the pig farming industry. Below is an introduction to disease prevention in farmed pigs: how to prevent and treat swine whipworm disease?

1. Introduction to swine whipworm disease

Swine whipworm disease, also known as swine trichuriasis, is an internal parasitic disease caused by Trichuris suis parasitising the caecum of pigs. The disease is widely distributed and can occur in all four seasons, and has long been a common problem affecting the pig farming industry. It can occur in both intensively raised pigs and free-range pigs, and is especially likely to occur on farms with ageing facilities and poor management. Piglets are particularly susceptible to the harm of whipworms, and severe infections often lead to death. Every year the pig farming industry suffers huge losses because of this disease.

The eggs of the swine whipworm are passed out with the faeces and develop into infective eggs after about 3 weeks, remaining infective for up to 6 years. Pigs ingest the infective eggs by eating feed, drinking water or rooting in soil, and the eggs hatch and develop in the small intestine and caecum of the pig, robbing the pig's body of nutrients, suppressing the pig's mucosal immunity to commensal bacteria, and triggering necrotising proliferative colitis, leading to the death of the pig.

2. Diagnosis and treatment of swine whipworm disease

When diagnosing from clinical symptoms whether a pig has whipworm disease, it should be differentiated from swine dysentery. If antibiotic treatment is ineffective, and this is combined with the pathological changes seen at necropsy, then whipworm infection should be considered. In addition, for a definitive diagnosis, an egg examination can be carried out: weigh out about 10 g of faeces from the affected pig, break it up, add an appropriate amount of saturated saline, stir well, filter and let stand for half an hour, then dip a drop of the surface liquid film onto a glass slide, cover with a cover slip and examine under the microscope. If many eggs that are barrel-shaped, brownish-yellow and have egg plugs at both ends are observed, then whipworm infection can be confirmed.

3. Clinical symptoms of swine whipworm disease

In mild infections there are generally no obvious symptoms, but symptoms can appear when several hundred worms are parasitising: mild anaemia, intermittent diarrhoea, progressive weight loss, and a rough, dishevelled coat. In severe infections (when the number of worms reaches several thousand), there is listlessness, reduced appetite, pale conjunctiva, anaemia, intractable diarrhoea, thin faeces sometimes containing blood streaks or bloody stools, physical weakness, an arched back and drooping belly, and staggering when walking, with a body temperature of 39.5-40.5 degrees C. Before death, watery bloody faeces with mucus are passed, and finally the pig dies from difficulty in breathing, dehydration and extreme exhaustion.

4. Prevention of swine whipworm disease

Piglets should be dewormed once at weaning, and then dewormed again after 1.5-2 months. Keep the pens hygienic, disinfect regularly or scrape off a layer of the surface soil, and compost and ferment the faeces to destroy the eggs.

5. Treatment of swine whipworm disease

1. Trichlorfon at 100 mg/kg body weight, mixed into the feed or administered by drench. After 3 days, for severely affected pigs give oral rehydration salts and furazolidone at 10 mg/kg body weight, once a day for 2 consecutive days.

2. Tetramisole (thiamizole) at 25 mg/kg body weight, orally; or prepared as a 3%-10% concentration at 15-20 mg/kg body weight, by intramuscular injection.

3. Albendazole at 20 mg/kg body weight, orally; worms are passed after 36 hours.

4. Levamisole at 7.5 mg/kg body weight, orally or by intramuscular injection.

5. Oxantel at 2-4 mg/kg body weight, dissolved in water and given by drench (injection is strictly prohibited).

The above is Tuliuwang's introduction to the prevention and treatment methods for swine whipworm disease. The way to prevent swine whipworm disease is to keep the pig pens hygienic and carry out deworming promptly, so as to prevent trouble before it happens.