The present study assessed the association of tail-biting lesions in ϐinishing pigs with weight gain, occurrence of locomotion or respiratory disorders and abscesses during ϐi-nishing period, and carcass condemnation at slaughter. The study was carried out on 4 different farms. For each animal with a tail biting lesion, two control pigs were selected. The total number of animals in the study was 312, with 104 of them being tail-bitten. Tail lesions were classiϐied according to the degree of severity into four scores: score 0 -normal tail withou lesion; score 1-3 -increasing lesion severity, and score 4 -healed lesions. Overall, the occurrence of severe tail lesions (score 3) varied from 55 to 73% of tail-bitten pigs among farms. On all farms, healing of tail lesions was observed in 95% to 100% of the animals at the evaluation performed within 41-43 days after the commencement of the study. In two out of the four evaluated farms, pigs with score of 3 showed lower weight gain (P<0.05) compared with score 0 pigs. Before slaughter, the occurrence of locomotion problems and nodules/abscesses was associated (P<0.05) with the presence of tail-biting lesions. At slaughter, tail-biting lesions were associated (P<0.05) with the presence of abscesses, lung lesions (pleuritis and embolic pneumonia) or arthritis in carcasses. Carcass condemnation was associated with the presence of tail-biting lesions (P<0.05). Overall, carcass condemnation rate was 21.4%, of which animals with tail-biting lesions accounted for 66.7% of condemnations. Among the animals diagnosed with cannibalism at farm level, only two had not healed their lesions at slaughter. The fact that there were a lot of carcass condemnations, despite the fact that tail-bitten animals had no more active lesions, suggests that different situations may be observed between the ϐield and slaughter, reinforcing the need to analyze pigs both at farm and slaughter to allow proper assessment of losses related to tail biting. Collectively, the observations of the present study show that complications associated with tail-biting found in slaughterhouses are probably underestimating ϐield prevalence.

Summary Recently, a putative new pestivirus species, provisionally named as Atypical Porcine Pestivirus (APPV), was associated with the congenital tremor in piglets in North America and consequently in Europe and Asia. The present research aimed to describe the detection and characterization of APPV employing NS5B gene partial sequencing, gross pathology and histologic examination of piglets displaying congenital tremor from two different farms of Southern Brazil. No gross lesions were observed, and the histological findings revealed moderate vacuolization of the white matter of the cerebellum. RT‐PCR followed by DNA sequencing and a phylogenetic analysis confirmed the presence of APPV in samples from the two farms, which the samples were distinct in nature. Phylogenetic reconstruction reinforced the high genetic variability within the APPVs previously reported. This is the first report of APPV in South America suggesting that this new group of viruses may be widespread in swine herds in other countries as it is in Brazil.

Abstract. Anti-porcine circovirus type 2 (anti-PCV2) immunostaining was associated with cerebellar lymphohistiocytic vasculitis combined with hemorrhages (50 pigs) or with lymphohistiocytic meningitis (23 pigs) in pigs naturally affected with postweaning multisystemic wasting syndrome (PMWS). The animals originated from 12 farms in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. In total, 456 unthrifty 3-to 5-month-old postweaning pigs confirmed as PMWS cases were necropsied. Although most findings mimicked those extensively reported in PMWS-affected pigs, there were distinctive brain lesions that included multiple hemorrhages in the cerebellar leptomeninges associated with lymphohistiocytic vasculitis and fibrinoid degeneration in vessels of the cerebellum and periventricular areas (69 pigs). These vascular lesions were also seen in conjunction with lymphohistiocytic meningitis (38 additional pigs). PCV2 antigen was immunohistochemically demonstrated in the cytoplasm and nuclei from intralesional perivascular macrophages and endothelial-like cells in brain tissues. Together these findings suggest that these lesions were caused by PCV2.

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In order to understand better the pathological aspects and spread of Pasteurella multocida type A as the primary cause of pneumonia in pigs, was made an experiment with intranasal inoculation of different concentrations of inocula [Group (G1): 108 Colony Forming Units (CFU)/ml; G2: 107 CFU/ml; G3: 106 CFU/ml and G4: 105 CFU/ml], using two pigs per group. The pigs were obtained from a high health status herd. Pigs were monitored clinically for 4 days and subsequently necropsied. All pigs had clinical signs and lesions associated with respiratory disease. Dyspnoea and hyperthermia were the main clinical signs observed. Suppurative cranioventral bronchopneumonia, in some cases associated with necrosuppurative pleuropneumonia, fibrinous pericarditis and pleuritic, were the most frequent types of lesion found. The disease evolved with septicaemia, characterized by septic infarctions in the liver and spleen, with the detection of P. multocida type A. In this study, P. multocida type A strain #11246 was the primary agent of fibrinous pleuritis and suppurative cranioventral bronchopneumonia, pericarditis and septicaemia in the pigs. All concentrations of inoculum used (105-108 CFU/ml) were able to produce clinical and pathological changes of pneumonia, pleuritis, pericarditis and septicemia in challenged animals.

Pathogenic intestinal spirochaetes of pigs include Brachyspira (formerly Serpulina) hyodysenteriae, the cause of swine dysentery, and Brachyspira pilosicoli, the cause of porcine colonic spirochetosis (PCS). The purpose of this study was to assess the relative importance of Brachyspira species in diarrhoeal disease of growing pigs on farms in southern Brazil. The intensity and pattern of haemolysis, the production of indole and the hydrolysis of hippurate by reference and field porcine intestinal spirochaetes were compared with 16S-ribosomal RNA (mRNA)- and 23S-rRNA-based polymerase chain reaction assays for the identification of B hyodysenteriae and B pilosicoli. Between July and October 1998, 206 rectal swabs were taken from pigs on 17 farms with a history of diarrhoea developing within 30 days after they had been moved from nursery to growing facilities. Of 49 beta-haemolytic spirochaetes that were cultured, 29 (59.2 per cent) were grown in pure culture for phenotypic and genotypic characterisation, leaving 20 untyped. Of the 29 typed isolates, eight isolates obtained from six farms were identified as B hyodysenteriae, and 15 isolates obtained from seven other farms were identified as B pilosicoli; the remaining six isolates were identified as weakly beta-haemolytic commensal spirochaetes. There was complete agreement between the results of the phenotypic and genotypic analyses.