Reviving post-mortem diagnostics as a tool to increase porcine herd health and strengthen early detection of pig diseases – the PathoPig project 2014-2016

Abstract

Post-mortem diagnostics are an important tool for disease diagnosis and therefore early detection of (re-)emerging animal diseases and zoonoses as well as nationwide disease surveillance programs. To counteract the decline of porcine necropsies in Switzerland over the last ten years, the Federal Food Safety and Veterinary Office (FSVO) launched a national project in 2014 called PathoPig. Post-mortem examinations of pigs from herds with health problems were financially supported by the FSVO. During the first 3 years of the project, the number of pig necropsies increased by 195% (mean). An underlying cause of disease was identified in 74% of the cases. These findings resulted in specific recommendations by the attending veterinarians or by the Swiss Porcine Health Service. A follow-up survey revealed that herd health had improved in 90% of the farms implementing the recommendations.

Frequent Occurrence of Simultaneous Infection with Multiple Rotaviruses in Swiss Pigs

“…The samples originated from pigs submitted for necropsies within the “PathoPig” project. The Swiss Federal Food Safety and Veterinary Office launched this project in 2014 to improve animal health by financially supporting postmortem analyses of pigs from herds with health problems [ 26 ]. Overall, individual samples of 95 pigs from 55 different farms, sampled between 2018 and 2020, were used for our study, including 31 suckling piglets, 37 weaned pigs, and 27 fattening pigs.…”

“…The range of circulating genotypes was shown to influence vaccine efficiency in humans, as heterotypic strains are less well neutralized than strains which are of the same P/G genotype as the vaccine strains [ 24 ]. Furthermore, full-genome genotyping may unravel animal origin of genome segments other than VP7 and VP4, thereby revealing previous interspecies transmissions [ 19 , 25 , 26 ].…”

Laboratory diagnostic examinations as part of «Pathocalf» in case of herd problems on Swiss calf rearing and fattening farms

“…Gemäss einer retrospektiven Umfrage hatte sich die Tiergesundheit auf 90% der Betriebe verbessert. 29 In Anlehnung an «PathoPig» wurde 2015 das Projekt «Pa-thoCalf» durch den Rindergesundheitsdienst initiiert. Die Zusammenarbeit erfolgte mit den Produzentenorganisationen Swiss Beef, dem Schweizerischen Kälbermästerverband (SKMV) und dem Bundesamt für Lebensmittelsicherheit und Veterinärmedizin (BLV).…”