How to treat piglet paratyphoid? Detailed treatment plan here
Piglet paratyphoid is an infectious disease of piglets caused by Salmonella choleraesuis and Salmonella typhisuis, mostly occurring in piglets aged 2-4 months. Acute cases show septicemia changes, while chronic cases show necrotizing inflammation of the large intestine and pneumonia.
Epidemic characteristics
Piglet paratyphoid mostly occurs in piglets aged 2-4 months kept under poor feeding and hygiene conditions, appearing as endemic or sporadic cases with slow spread; it is especially likely to occur in cold, changeable weather and during prolonged rainy seasons. In addition, damp and crowded pig pens, long-distance transport, parasitic diseases, early weaning, and castration can all promote the occurrence of this disease.
Clinical characteristics
1. Acute type (septicemic type)
Mostly seen in piglets shortly after weaning, with elevated body temperature (41-42 degreesC), reduced appetite, shivering, and often huddling together. At the beginning of the disease there is constipation, followed by diarrhea, with pale yellow or grayish-green, foul-smelling feces, sometimes with bleeding; in the late stage of the disease, the skin of the abdomen, ears, and limbs shows dark red or bluish-purple spots. Sick pigs have difficulty breathing, body temperature drops, and they generally die after 2-6 days.
2. Chronic disease (colitis type)
This type is common and similar to intestinal-type swine fever, with huddling, shivering, sticky or purulent eye discharge, alternating constipation and diarrhea, and grayish-green, foul-smelling feces mixed with blood. Sick pigs are emaciated, often showing a tucked-up abdomen, arched back, and squealing, as if having abdominal pain symptoms. Scab-like eczema appears on the abdominal skin. Some sick pigs cough, and body temperature rises slightly. The course of disease is 2-3 weeks or longer; surviving pigs later show poor development or relapse.
Necropsy lesions
1. Acute type
Mainly septicemia changes: the spleen is markedly enlarged, with a blunt edge, dark color with a blue tinge, and feels soft and doughy on pressure, similar to rubber; the cut surface is bluish-red, and enlarged lymphoid follicles can be seen. The mesenteric lymph nodes are enlarged in a cord-like manner, and other lymph nodes are also enlarged to varying degrees, soft and red, showing serous inflammation and hemorrhage, similar to a marbled appearance. The liver and kidneys are also enlarged to varying degrees, with congestion and hemorrhage. Mucous membranes and serous membranes throughout the body show varying degrees of hemorrhagic spots, and the extremities show bruising and a bluish-purple color.
2. Chronic type
The characteristic lesion is necrotizing enteritis: in the cecum, colon, or part of the posterior segment of the ileum, the intestinal wall is thickened, and the mucosa is covered with a layer of diffuse necrotic material, appearing as grayish-yellow or pale green bran-like material; when peeled off, the base is red, with irregular ulcer surfaces at the edges. In some cases, the mucosa around the follicles is necrotic. When necrosis extends deeper, it can cause fibrinous peritonitis. The mesenteric lymph nodes are swollen, with some caseous changes. The spleen is slightly swollen. The affected lung areas are enlarged and grayish-red, with some showing caseous changes; their cut surface has small grayish-yellow nodules, and if secondary Pasteurella or pyogenic cell infection occurs, it develops into hepatized areas or purulent foci.
Bacterial isolation
In acute cases, materials such as liver and spleen can be collected for bacterial isolation, culture, and identification. Immunofluorescence testing can also be performed.
In short, a diagnosis can be confirmed by comprehensively analyzing the above characteristics.
Prevention and treatment plan
1. Improve feeding management and hygiene conditions, provide high-quality complete compound pellet feed, and enhance piglets' disease resistance.
2. In areas or pig farms where this disease is common, carry out preventive vaccination or oral vaccine methods.
3. After the disease occurs, isolate and treat sick pigs, and thoroughly disinfect contaminated pig pens/surviving pigs should be isolated for fattening and then culled. Dead pigs must not be eaten! Strictly prevent poisoning! For pigs that have not developed the disease, adding 100 grams of chlortetracycline or 100 grams of sulfadimidine per ton of feed and mixing evenly for feeding has a preventive effect! For treatment drugs, options include chloramphenicol (oral, 500-100 mg per kg body weight per day, taken in 2-3 divided doses; intramuscular injection, 10-30 mg per kg body weight per day, injected in 2-3 divided doses, for 4-6 consecutive days), furazolidone (20-40 mg per kg per day, taken orally in two divided doses, for 3-5 consecutive days, then halve the dose and take for another 3-5 days), etc.