How to prevent and treat porcine epidemic diarrhea? These methods are very practical

Porcine epidemic diarrhea is a contact intestinal infectious disease caused by porcine epidemic diarrhea virus, characterized by vomiting, diarrhea and dehydration, and its clinical changes and symptoms are extremely similar to those of porcine infectious gastroenteritis. It was first reported in the United Kingdom in 1971, and in China the disease occurred successively in the early 1980s. In China it mostly occurs from December each year to January-February of the following year, and cases in summer have also been reported. It can occur in pigs of any age; the younger the age, the more severe the symptoms and the higher the mortality rate.

Symptoms of porcine epidemic diarrhea

The incubation period of porcine epidemic diarrhea is generally 5-8 days, and the incubation period of artificial infection is 8-24 hours. The main clinical symptom is watery diarrhea, or vomiting between bouts of diarrhea. Vomiting mostly occurs after eating or suckling. The severity of symptoms varies with age; the younger the age, the more severe the symptoms. After diarrhea occurs in newborn piglets within one week of age, they show severe dehydration and die after 3-4 days, with a mortality rate of up to 50%, and the highest mortality rate reaching 100%. The body temperature of sick pigs is normal or slightly elevated, with mental depression and reduced or lost appetite. Weaned pigs and sows often show listlessness, anorexia and persistent diarrhea for about one week, and then gradually return to normal. A small number of pigs show poor growth and development after recovery. After infection while housed in the same pen, fattening pigs all develop diarrhea, recover after one week, and the mortality rate is 1-3%. Adult pigs have milder symptoms; some only show vomiting, and in severe cases watery diarrhea for 3-4 days can resolve on its own.

Prevention of porcine epidemic diarrhea

1. Strengthen nutrition and control mycotoxin poisoning. A certain proportion of mold remover can be added to the feed, along with high-grade vitamins.

2. Raise the temperature, especially in the breeding and gestation barn, farrowing house and nursery. For the large environment, the temperature of the breeding and gestation barn should be no lower than 15°C, the farrowing house should be 23°C in the first week before farrowing and 25°C in the first week after farrowing, then decrease by 2°C each week thereafter; the nursery should be 28°C in the first week, then decrease by 2°C each week thereafter until 22°C. For the microclimate temperature of the farrowing house, use infrared lamps and electric heating plates: 32°C in the first week, then decrease by 2°C each week thereafter. The drinking water temperature for pigs should be no lower than 20°C. Move sows that are more than 2 weeks before farrowing into the farrowing house, and heat the farrowing house in advance.

3. Carry out regular health care on the pig farm. The whole herd should receive synchronized health care for one week each month to control the breeding of bacterial diseases. For the 3-day health care after sow farrowing and the 3-shot health care for piglets, Gaoere Jinzhen injection can be selected. Inject 10-20 ml per sow on the day of farrowing; if there is infection, inject another 10-20 ml per sow 3 days after farrowing. For the 3-shot health care of piglets, that is, at 3 days, 7 days and 21 days after birth, inject intramuscularly 0.5 ml, 0.5 ml and 1 ml respectively.

4. Emergency vaccination of the breeding herd with the bivalent gastroenteritis vaccine or the trivalent gastroenteritis-rotavirus vaccine. After vomiting and diarrhea occur, immediately lock down the affected area and the farrowing house, and try to achieve complete lockdown. Cull piglets within 10 days of age that have vomiting and watery diarrhea. This is a measure to cut off the source of infection and protect susceptible pigs.

Treatment of porcine epidemic diarrhea

1. For pigs aged 8-13 days with vomiting and diarrhea, mix oral rehydration salts with oxytetracycline base or norfloxacin, warm to about 39°C and administer orally, 4-5 times a day, with the principle of ensuring no dehydration.

2. Sick pigs must be strictly isolated and must not be allowed to spread the disease. At the same time, drugs are used for auxiliary treatment. The recommended regimen is Gaoere Jinzhen + concanavalin, and relatively good results will be seen after 5 days.

3. Antibiotic treatment is ineffective for this disease; the prevention and treatment methods for porcine infectious gastroenteritis can be used as a reference. In areas where this disease is epidemic, pregnant sows can be artificially infected 2 weeks before farrowing with feces or small intestinal contents from sick pigs to stimulate the production of milk-derived antibodies, thereby shortening the epidemic of this disease on the farm.

4. China has developed a PEDV formaldehyde aluminum hydroxide inactivated vaccine with a protection rate of 85%, which can be used to prevent this disease. A bivalent inactivated vaccine against PEDV and TGE has also been developed. When these two vaccines are used to immunize pregnant sows, piglets obtain protection through colostrum, and vaccinating piglets at weaning on affected farms can reduce the occurrence of these two diseases.

① Vaccinate with the bivalent vaccine against porcine infectious gastroenteritis and porcine epidemic diarrhea. Pregnant sows are vaccinated 1 month before farrowing, which allows piglets to obtain passive immunity through breast milk. Immunization can also be carried out with attenuated porcine epidemic diarrhea vaccine or inactivated vaccine.

② Leukocyte interferon 2000-3000 international units, 1-2 times a day, by subcutaneous injection.

③ Oral rehydration salt solution 100-200 ml, administered orally once.

④ Anisodamine hydrochloride, 5 ml for piglets and 20 ml for adult pigs, once a day, by injection at the Houhai acupoint.

⑤ Use antibiotics (tetracycline, gentamicin) to prevent secondary bacterial infection.

⑥ Traditional Chinese medicine prescription: Codonopsis pilosula, Atractylodes macrocephala and Poria cocos 50 g each, and roasted Aucklandia lappa, Agastache rugosa, roasted ginger and honey-fried licorice 30 g each. Extract the juice, add 200 g white sugar, mix with a small amount of feed and administer as feed.