This e-book was written to serve as a support for the teaching of the course CVM 6969: Large Animal Medicine III at the University of Minnesota. Its structure follows the organization of the course sessions and may be confusing for an external audience.
The United States is the second largest hog producing country with an inventory of around 73 million pigs present in the country in June 2018 and 121 million pigs harvested during the year 2017. Within the country, 3 areas with a high hog density can be identified, the northern Midwest, the East coast and the Texas-Oklahoma region. Minnesota is ranked number 3 with 8.6 million pigs for 5.5 million people. It has a strong impact on the state economy and generates $7 billion annually.
In the USA, the swine production is separated in 3 different sites:
- The sow farm where the sows give birth to the piglets.
- The piglets are weaned when they are 3-week old and are moved to a nursery site, which can be down the road or in a completely different state!
- When they reach 50 lbs or so, the pigs are then moved to a finishing site where they stay until they reach 280 lbs, the time at which they are harvested.
Infectious diseases are a challenge in each of the swine production stages. They vary from sow reproductive disorders to enteric diseases in piglets to respiratory issues in finishing pigs. The 3-site production schema successfully limits the spread of diseases from the sow to her offspring. On the other end, it increases pig movement across the country. Approximately 1 million pigs are on the road every single day in the US, facilitating the spread of pathogens across state lines.
In this e-book, swine diseases have been organized in various chapters:
- Major multisystemic diseases: PRRS and PCVAD,
- Respiratory diseases,
- Enteric diseases in the pre-weaning pig,
- Enteric diseases in the weaned pig,
- Systemic diseases,
- Reproductive diseases,
- Skin diseases,
- Transboundary diseases
