Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Pathological lesions in swine at slaughter. II. Culled sows.
- Journal:
- Acta veterinaria Scandinavica
- Year:
- 1979
- Authors:
- Flesjå, K I & Ulvesaeter, H O
Plain-English summary
In a study of sows (female pigs) brought to a slaughterhouse in Norway between 1975 and 1977, researchers found that about 17% of the 10,051 sows had some kind of health issue. Most of these problems were linked to a few specific diseases, with pyaemia (a type of blood infection) and abscesses (pockets of infection) being the most common, affecting around 1.5% and 3.2% of the sows, respectively. Other issues included scabies (a skin condition) and white spots on the liver, which together made up another 21% of the lesions. The study also noted that sows had fewer overall health problems compared to younger pigs raised for meat, but they had higher rates of certain infections like pyaemia and abscesses. The findings suggest that there are different health challenges for sows compared to younger pigs, and the researchers proposed several ideas to explain these differences.
Abstract
The same computerized recording system as described in Part I of this publication1979) was applied to sows slaughtered at Sentralslakteriet, Forus, Stavanger. In the three-year period 1975–1977 a total of 10,051 apparently healthy sows were brought to the abattoir. About 17 % of the carcasses had one or more pathological lesions. Of the total number of lesions 89 % were confined to 18 of the available 57 disease codes. Pyaemia and abscess/-es occurred at a rate of 1.5 and 3.2 %, respectively. This comprised 21 % of all registered lesions. Scabies and numerous white liver spots came to another 21 %, occurring in 3.3 and 1.5 % of the animals, respectively. About 15 % were chest lesions, of which pleurisy was diagnosed in 1.4 % and pericarditis in 1.3 % of the slaughtered sows. Other lesions recorded in 1 % or more included perihepatitis and other non-parasitic liver lesions, arthritis and decubitus. Only code 31 — numerous white spots in the liver showed a convincing seasonal variation. Significantly higher frequencies of pyaemia and abscess/-es occurred in culled sows than in baconers, but no such difference could be found for peritonitis, polyarthritis and arthritis. For all other commonly observed lesions significantly lower frequencies were seen in sows compared to baconers. Various theories are suggested to explain the observed difference in the distribution of lesions between baconers and sows.
Find similar cases for your pet
PetCaseFinder finds other peer-reviewed reports of pets with the same symptoms, plus a plain-English summary of what was tried across them.
Search related cases →Original publication: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/546208/