Diarrhoea in neonatal piglets: a case control study on microbiological findings

Abstract

BackgroundMany factors can influence the occurrence of neonatal diarrhoea in piglets. Currently, well-known pathogens such as enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli and Clostridium perfringens type C appear to play a minor role in development of disease. Other infectious pathogens may be involved. In this study, we aimed to investigate the presence of selected infectious pathogens in neonatal piglets with clinical and pathological signs of enteric disease. The association between rotavirus A, Enterococcus hirae, Clostridium difficile and Clostridium perfringens type A/C and diarrhoea was investigated in a case control study on piglet level. The possible role of E. coli virulence factors was investigated in a multistep-procedure using herd-pools of E.coli isolates to screen for their presence.ResultsRotavirus A was detected more often in cases (25%) than in controls (6%) (P < 0.001). The detection rate of Enterococcus hirae, Clostridium difficile and C. perfringens type A positive for beta2 genes was the same in the two groups of piglets. C. perfringens type C was not detected in the study. Investigations on E. coli virulence factors showed a high prevalence of EAST1 toxin genes (55% of tested case piglets were positive) and AIDA-1 adhesin genes (63% of toxin positive case piglets were positive) in case piglets.ConclusionsDetection of rotavirus A was statistically significantly associated with neonatal piglet diarrhoea.An aetiologic role of E. coli carrying virulence factors EAST1 and AIDA-1 needs further investigation as the study points out these two factors as possible causative factors in neonatal diarrhoea.Detection of E.hirae, C.difficile and C. perfringens type A carrying beta 2 genes was not associated with neonatal piglet diarrhoea. However, the study suggested that massive overgrowth by E. hirae could be part of the pathogenesis in some cases of neonatal diarrhoea.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s40813-018-0094-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Prevalence of enteric pathogens in diarrheic and non-diarrheic samples from pig farms with neonatal diarrhea in the North East of Spain

“…One of the main results of this study is the evidence of RVA as the most frequent agent involved in neonatal diarrhea of the studied cases. This result agrees with a recent case-control study conducted in pig farms in Denmark, in which the authors concluded that RVA was the only agent that could be statistically associated to neonatal diarrhea (Kongsted et al, 2018). Nevertheless in some cases their role as a causative agent of disease in pigs have been controversial.…”

“…ETEC has been and still is considered the main agent responsible for intestinal disorders in neonatal piglets being F4, F5, F6 and F41, the main fimbriae associated with diarrhea, (Dubreuil et al, 2016;Luppi et al, 2016). In the present study, ETEC strains were infrequently isolated from both diarrheic and non-diarrheic piglets, similar to the results reported previously by others (Kongsted et al, 2013;Kongsted et al, 2018;Larsson et al, 2015;Mesonero-Escuredo et al, 2018). This low prevalence of E. coli pathotypes and virulent factors is probably related to the E. coli vaccination programs implemented in sows in the Spanish farms.…”

“…Since C. perfringens type A is a common gut microorganism, the detection of this agent cannot be interpreted unambiguously, given that it is not possible to distinguish commensal from pathogenic strains. Thus, although it has been considered as a main pathogen involved in persistent neonatal diarrhea (Mesonero-Escuredo et al, 2018), a direct pathogen-toxin-disease association has not been yet determined (Kongsted et al, 2013, Kongsted et al, 2018. As regards C. perfringens type C, the prevalence detected in the present study was low.…”

“…Nevertheless in some cases their role as a causative agent of disease in pigs have been controversial. While some studies did not find a clear association between RVA infection and neonatal disease (Ruiz et al, 2016;Amimo et al, 2013a), others did find a statistical relationship between neonatal diarrhea and RVA single infection (Linares et al, 2009;Kongsted et al, 2018;Mesonero-Escuredo et al, 2018), or RVA combined with other factors such as coinfections or management conditions (Ruiz et al, 2016).…”

“…Moreover, enteric outbreaks are usually associated to the presence of infectious agents, such as viruses, bacteria or coccidian, although the presence of pathogens in piglets alone does not determine the occurrence of diarrhea episodes (Ruiz et al, 2016). All those pathogens can act as primary and sole agents of scours in piglets although co-infections are commonly reported (Kongsted et al, 2018;Mesonero-Escuredo et al, 2018).…”