Epidemiological, Clinical and Pathological findings of Oedema Disease of Swine in Kenya

Abstract

The main epidemiological findings that were associated with oedema disease of swine were recent weaning (8-14 days), mixing of piglets from different litters, change of feed and ad libitum feeding with concentrates after weaning and high fatality rate (70%-100%) even with treatment. The consistent clinical history was sudden death of healthy piglets after weaning. The clinical manifestation was combination of the following; anorexia, staggering gait, oedema of the eyelids, dropping edematous ears, hoarse sound, tremors, paralysis and recumbency. Marked dyspnea and bluish red discoloration in some cases. The main microscopic findings were subcutaneous oedema of the head, submucosa of the stomach wall, mesentery of the spiral colon and the brain and the meninges characterized by cloudy appearance, lung congestion, edema, consolidation and collapse and excessive fluid in the serous cavities. In animals that had died suddenly there were no gross lesions at necropsy. Microscopically the main lesions in all the animals were edema in the predilection sites, interstitial pneumonia of varying degrees of severity and non-suppurative ventricular encephalitis. The histopathological lesions in the lung and the brain tissues were suggestive of a viral involvement in addition to normal E. coli toxemia. Consequently it was concluded that the etiopathogenesis of these cases of oedema disease of swine could have also involved a virus in addition to the normal E.coli toxaemia.