Welcome to the space that deals with the consequences of VTEC infections in the field through quick audio episodes:

One of the keys to prevention of a disease is to have a good diagnostic approach. There are different tools to identify the presence of Edema Disease under field conditions. The use of oral fluids and FTA cards is one of the latest diagnostic tools available to swine vets.

We had a very interesting but severe case, where over 100 pigs, weighing around 25 kgs, suddenly died within a very few days. The findings we made did not fit together. So we did not get the correct diagnosis right away.

Clinically it looked very much like edema disease, but it could also have been a severe case of meningitis or poisoning of some kind. When we looked inside the pigs we saw very severe lesions. They pointed in many different directions.

We saw necrosis of the ileum, coecum, colon… and all the way into the rectum. Some pigs also had severe gastritis. The consistency of the faeces ranged from watery to mushy to solid.

Since saliva was postulated as a valid sample for the diagnosis of infections such as PRRS, we have investigated its usefulness for other viral and bacterial infections. This is how we have optimised the detection of viruses such as the influenza virus and bacteria such as Bordetella b. and Pasteurella m. in oral fluids.

Perhaps the most innovative feature of this service is the possibility of using FTA cards to immobilise OF samples without losing sensitivity. This is very useful when the farm and the laboratory are far away from each other.