Jennifer Richter, Laura Talaga, Courtney Low,
Vi Nguyen , Morgan Tannenbaum, Erin Burton
Signs of a Healthy Piglet
 Active & alert, with bright eyes and curious.
 Body temperature of 102.5° F
 Sleek haircoat
 Tightly curled tails
 Clean and dry
 Strong appetite &
weight gain
Healthy Piglet Weaning
Average Wean Age: 20-22 days
Average Wean Weight: 13-14 lbs
Growth during 1st week post weaning:
• Pigs that grow 0.5 lb per day the 1st week
of weaning were 17 lbs heavier at market
Feeding Post Weaning Piglets
 First 7 days post weaning: critical period
 Important to remember extreme nutritional
changes occur at weaning!
 Creep feeding recommended
 Stimulates pig to eat (appetite) & helps find feed
 Scatter 1lb feed per 30 heads on mat 4-6x daily
 Gruel Feeding
 Pigs having trouble starting
on dry feed
(water + commercial feed)
Managing Healthy Post Weaning
Piglets
 Water intake is critical
• 1 nipple for 10 pigs or 1 bowl/trough per 20 pigs
• Height of nipple: shoulder height of smallest
piglet
 Zone Heating
• provides 82
0
F
• Pigs lay 1 ½ “deep” =
lie touching each other w/
heads on neighbors flank
Identifying SICK piglets:
careful observation is the key
Signs to look for:
 Rough hair coat or fuzzy appearance
 Sucked in flanks. Obvious empty belly.
 Depressed or lethargic. Head down or droopy.
Ears laid back. Laying along the gate.
 Not active or competing. Feed refusal.
 Lameness. Piling.
 Temperature > 102°F (38.8°C)
Sucked in flanks and stomach is a
good indication the pig has not
been eating.
 Some pigs have rough hair coats which is typical 3-
6 days post wean but bellies are round indicating
that pigs are on feed and doing well.
Our Case
 Homer Zuckerman’s Famous Pig Farm
 Reports in the last 2 months:
 14 emaciated
 6 dead
 Age range: 3-6 months old
Clinical Signs
 Wasting
 Enlarged lymph nodes (inguinal)
 Ill thrift
 Rough hair coat
 Pale skin
 Dyspnea
 Icterus
 Diarrhea
DDx
 PMWS
Post Weaning Multi-systemic Wasting Syndrome
 PRRS
Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome
 Swine Influenza
 Mycoplasma
 Porcine dermatitis and nephropathy syndrome
(PDNS)
PMWS and related PCVAD’s
• PMWS aka Severe Systemic Porcine Circovirus 2
infection
• One of many PCV2 associated diseases
PCVADS
Granulomatous enteritis
Reproductive failure
Porcine respiratory disease complex
Porcine dermatitis and nephropathy
PMWS Effects
Post weaning piglets 4-14 weeks
Pregnant sows in
1st or 2nd trimester
Transmission
• Direct: feces, respiratory secretions, urine.
• Fecal-oral or oro-nasal route.
• Hematogenous dissemination
• Ubiquitous in swine herds worldwide:
• Natural protection; early antigen exposure
• Most infections subclinical
• only 10-30% clinical
• Maternal antibody protection
to piglets from exposed sows
Clinical Signs
Weight loss/muscle wasting, dyspnea,
enlarged lymph nodes, jaundice, pallor and ill
thrift
Sows: Abortion or fetal resorption,
SMEDI
PMWS: complex and multifactorial Dz
• Pathogenesis and cellular tropisms
remain unknown
• Replication in monocytic cell lines
= granulomatous lesions ???
• PCV2 is necessary, but co-factors are
more significant in development of
PMWS.
COFACTORS
1. Co-infections
• + PPV
• + PRRS
• + Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae
2. Management Factors:
Co-mingling, diet change, pathogen exposure and
separation of piglets from sows
• Challenge and suppress pig’s immune system
3. Immunostimulation (?):
• Concurrent vax + PVC2 exposure = enhanced severity
of clinical disease
Gross pathologic findings of PMWS
Kidney and liver: variable; diffusely scattered
white foci
Gross pathologic findings of PMWS
Lung- non-collapsable and palpably firm
Gross pathologic findings of PMWS
Lymph node- enlarged; granulomatous
infiltrates
Histopathologic findings of PMWS
Lungs: interstitial
pneumonia with
lymphohistiocytic
infiltrate
Lymph node:
multinucleated giant
cells, histiocytic
infiltrates; lymphoid
cell depletion
Histopathologic findings of PMWS
“The Grapes of Wrath”- characteristic
botryoid inclusion bodies in lymph
nodes, tonsils and Peyer’s patches
Diagnosis of PMWS
 1) Clinical signs in weaned pigs
 wasting and dyspnea.
 2) Gross- or histo- pathological findings
 interstitial pneumonia
 granulomatous lesions,
 botryoid inclusion bodies
 lympho-histiocytic infiltrates
 3) Demonstration of the presence of PCV2 in the
lesions
 Immunohistochemistry
 In-situ hybridization
Control of PMWS
 Good management practices
 Semen from insemination centers vs. on-
farm
 Control of co-infections
 PRRS
 Parvo
 PCV2 vaccines
Vaccines
 Intervet Circumvent™ PCV (US and Canada)
 Healthy pigs 3 weeks and older
 2 IM injections 3 weeks apart
 Fort Dodge Suvaxyn PCV2® One Dose (US)
 PCV1-2 Chimera
 Healthy pigs 4 weeks and older
 1 single dose IM
 Boehringer Ingleheim Ingelvac® CircoFLEX™ (US and Canada)
 Healthy pigs 3 weeks and older
 1 singe dose IM
 Merial Circovac® (Europe and Canada)
 Primary Vaccination

2 injections 3-4 weeks apart at least 2 weeks before mating
 Revaccination
 1 injection at each gestation at least 2-4 weeks before farrowing
 Healthy female breeding age pigs
Benefits of vaccination
 Reduced mortality rate and morbidity
 Decreased mortality before weaning after vaccination of
sows
 Decreased mortality in fourth month of life after
vaccination of piglets
 Reduced PCV2 viremia and viral load
 Reduction in clinical signs and co-infections
associated with PMWS
 Improved productivity
 Greater average daily weight gain
 Greater carcass weight at slaughter
Herd Management
 The basic principle of herd management with pigs is to
Reduce STRESS!
 Handle with care, gentleness and patience
 Check herd daily on a strict schedule
 Walk though pens once a day
 ID sick pigs right away and move them to a separate pen
Herd Management Options
 All In/ All Out
 Continuous Flow
All In/ All Out
 Pigs of the same size or age are housed together in
order to decrease the opportunity for diseases to
spread
AI/ AO
Advantages
Disadvantages
 Disease spread is easier to
 Must have adequate space
contain
 Pigs are less stressed when
the remain within familiar
social groups
 Cleaning & disinfecting
achievable between groups
 Space is less efficiently
allocated
Continuous Flow
 Animals are added to the group as the are old enough
or large enough
 These animal may be in different stages of
development
Continuous Flow
Advantages
 Space is used efficiently
Disadvantages
 Pigs of various
immunocompetence are
placed together
 Frequent social group
changes
 Cleaning & Disinfecting
between groups is not
feasible
Special thanks to:
Dr Wallace
Dr Gyimah
Dr Castillo
References
 Early Pig Care Manual. PIC. Hendersonville, TN. 2009
 Harding JCS, Clark EG. Recognizing and diagnosing Postweaning Multisystemic Wasting
Syndrome (PMWS). Swine health and production. Vol. 5, number 5.
 http://www.ipic.iastate.edu/publications/720.RaisingHealthyPigs.pdf
 http://www.grobernutrition.com/piglet/porlet/
 http://www.goats4h.com/Pigs.html
 http://cal.vet.upenn.edu. Swine Production. 15 March, 2011.
 http://cal.vet.upenn.edu/projects/swine/fac/general/health.html
 “Chapter 1: Management practices and animal husbandry.” Swine Care Handbook. 2002.
15 March 2011.
 http://www.antwifarms.com/docs/swinecarehandbook.pdf
 http://www.vin.com/members/cms/document/default.aspx?objecttypeid=2&templ
ate=articleview&redirect=1&objectid=1665126
 http://www.vin.com/members/cms/document/default.aspx?objecttypeid=2&templ
ate=articleview&redirect=1&objectid=1733985
 http://vetmed.iastate.edu/research/labs/pcv2/control-pcv2-associated-disease
References
 http://www.thepigsite.com/pigjournal/articles/1630/porcine-multisystemic-wasting-syndromepmws-a-review
 Krokowka S, Ellis JA, Meehan B, Kennedy S, McNeilly and Allan G. Viral Wasting Syndrome of
Swine: Experimental Reproduction of PMWS in Gnotobiotic Swine by Coinfection with PCV2 and
PPV. SAGE Journals online.
 http: //vet.sagepub.com/content/37/3/245.full
 "ScienceDirect - Preventive Veterinary Medicine : Risk factors for porcine post-weaning
multisystemic wasting syndrome (PMWS) in 149 French farrow-to-finish herds." ScienceDirect Home . N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Mar. 2011.
<http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6TBK-49M6RNP2&_user=4442476&_coverDate=
 http://www.aasp.org/shap/issues/v5n5/index.html
 Tucker AW. Porcine multisystemic wasting syndrome (PMWS): a review. The Pig Journal. April
2006.
Questions?