The Canada West Swine Health Intelligence Network is advising pork producers to pay heightened attention to diarrhea.
The just released Canada West Swine Health Intelligence Network swine disease surveillance report for the second quarter of 2020 showed an increase in the incidence of diarrhea.
CWSHIN Manager Dr. Jette Christensen says the three diseases that stood out were Colibacillosis, Rotavirus and Salmonella.
Now we do know that Colibacillosis and Rotavirus are pretty common as causes of diarrhea so that wasn’t so much of a surprise but we do want to keep an eye on whether these two diseases are increasing. Salmonella is a little bit more of a concern and stood out because it was at the same time where we had an outbreak in humans across Canada and the U.S. and it was Salmonella Newport. It’s later been discovered that it was related to red onions coming from the U.S. so that was a narrow escape.
We do know that salmonella is also a concern as a zoonosis so it can spread from clinically infected pigs or even subclinical infected pigs, so pigs that do not show any clinical signs but do have salmonella, through pork to humans. It’s been traced back from death in humans to pigs or herds in other countries. I don’t think there’s been any reports of that from Canada but it is a concern so, if you do have diarrhea and if you do see salmonella in your herd, you should try to control it.
~ Dr. Jette Christensen, Canada West Swine Health Intelligence Network
Dr. Christensen acknowledges diarrhea is one of the most common clinical signs in swine herds in Canada but she says if you see something that’s more persistent or widespread contact your veterinarian.
