The Rural Voice, 1980-06, Page 21"Pig tales"
Swine coccidiosis
BY CHUCK ROBBINS, D.V.M.
Recently, coccidiosis has become quite
widely recognized as a cause of diarrhea in
the newborn piglet. The coccidia are tiny
intracellular parasites that cause destruct-
ion of cells in the intestinal tract when they
replicate. This destruction and loss of
intestinal cells leads to diarrhea. If the
infection is severe, death of the piglet
occurs in a few days.
There are nine species of swine coccidia,
eight of which do not appear to be clinically
significant at this time. Isospora suis is the
one species of coccidia that is receiving the
most attention today. Coccidia are peculiar
organisms in that they must undergo a
complex set of changes both inside and
outside the body before they become
infective and harmful to the host animal.
Briefly the life cycle of Isospora suis is as
follows. After an infected sow passes
manure containing oocysts (a non -infective
form of the coccidia), sporulation occurs.
This sporulation stage results in the
creation of a sporulated oocyst, the
infective stage of the organism. Trans-
mission is mainly by ingestion of
contaminated food and water. Following
ingestion of sporulated oocysts. clinical
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disease occurs in three to four days.
Generally an infected piglet will not pass
oocysts until ten to twelve days after
ingestion of sporulated oocysts, providing
it lives this long.
The clinical signs of coccidiosis are
primarily evident in the neonatal piglet
between five and ten days of age. Adult
swine show little or no clinical signs of
infection. In the piglet the most prominent
and consistent sign is diarrhea. Generally
the diarrhea does not contain blood. The
feces are quite watery and yellow in colour.
Response to treatment with the more
common scour medications is nearly
always quite poor. Severely affected pig-
lets that do not die become chronic
"poor -doers".
You must work closely with your
veterinarian if you suspect that coccidiosis
may be a problem in your herd. A tentative
diagnosis can be made based on history
and clinical signs. However, submission of
fresh gut samples or more preferably five
scouring piglets to your local Veterinary
Services Laboratory is required to confirm
a diagnosis of coccidiosis. Several other
diseases must be considered when you
suspect a coccidiosis outbreak. These
include colibacillosis (E. coli diarrhea),
T.G.E. (transmissible gastroenteritis), and
rotaviral diarrhea.
The major goal of prevention and
treatment is to decrease the possibility of
exposing the newborn piglets to infective
sporulated oocysts. Theft are anticoccidial
drugs available that can be employed
should an outbreak occur. Antibiotics may
be necessary to prevent secondary in-
fections from taking over. Sanitation is one
very effective way of reducing the poss-
ibility of this disease breaking out in your
barn. Because of the nature of this disease,
outbreaks are most often associated with
poor sanitation, where the number of
infective sporulated oocysts is allowed to
build up without control. Therefore, such
things as washing the sows before placing
them in the farrowing area, and prompt
removal of manure become very important
when it comes to reducing the incidence of
coccidiosis.
In summary, while little has been said of
coccidiosis up to the present, I feel that this
disease will become quite important in the
near future. Now is the time for you to take
steps to prevent coccidiosis from becoming
a problem on your farm. Strict sanitation
procedures and a constant high level of
management should be your main ob-
jectives. If you have any questions regard-
ing coccidiosis in swine, contact your local
veterinarian.
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THE RURAL VOICE/JUNE 1980 PG. 19