A new periparturient disease in Eastern Europe, Clostridium difficile causes postparturient sow losses

doi:10.1016/j.theriogenology.2004.02.020

Theriogenology

Volume 63, Issue 1, 1 January 2005, Pages 17-23

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.theriogenology.2004.02.020 Get rights and content

Abstract

Postparturient sow losses caused by Clostridium difficile have not been reported in the veterinary literature. Recently in Croatia, in a large outdoor production unit with suboptimal environmental conditions, a sudden increase in postparturient sow mortality was diagnosed. After postpartal application of enrofloxacine to postparturient mastitis metritis agalactia (MMA) suffering sows, diarrhea, respiratory distress, and mortality of these sows were recorded. While 13% of MMA suffering and treated sows died, only 0.4% of the non-treated (no MMA suffering) sows died postpartum.

Gross pathology revealed mesocolonic edema, hydrothorax, and ascites. Microscopic examination showed scattered foci of suppuration in the colonic lamina propria and accumulation of neutrophils and fibrin on colonic mucosa. Anaerobic cultures of the colon yielded heavy growth of C. difficile. Enzyme immunoassay revealed C. difficile toxins A and B.

C. difficile infections of postparturient MMA suffering sows may be associated with environmental stress, the application of antibiotics, or both. C. difficile infections are an impending danger in Eastern Europe and does not only raise animal welfare issues, but seriously inflict the economical well being of outdoor production units.

Introduction

Clostridium difficile is a gram-positive to gram-variable, spore-forming anaerobe that is commonly found in the intestinal tract of various mammals, birds, and reptiles [1]. It produces a toxin, which can be detected by enzyme-linked immunoassay (ELISA) [2], [3], [4], [5], [6].

C. difficile is considered to be a cause of antibiotic associated diarrhea and pseudomembranous colitis in humans, enterocolitis in foals, nosocomial diarrhea and typhlocolitis in adult horses, and typhlitis in hamsters [5]. C. difficile is usually classified as an opportunist bacterium that colonizes young animals and human infants [1], but it is rapidly displaced as the flora matures [7]. In swine herds, C. difficile has been reported to be a cause of diarrhea [1], [2], [3], [4], [5], [6], [7], [11], [12], respiratory distress [2] and high morbidity and mortality [2], [3] of neonatal and weaned piglets. Typical gross pathological lesions include inflammatory enteric changes, mesocolonic edema, hydrothorax, ascites, scattered foci of suppuration, and accumulation of neutrophils and fibrin in the colonic lamina propria [1], [2], [3], [4], [5], [6], [7], [11], [12]. C. difficile-related health problems may be enhanced by stress, lack of hygiene, dietary changes, and the use of certain types of antimicrobials [1], [2], [3], [4], [5], [6], [7], [12].

C. difficile-related postparturient sow losses have not been reported in the literature. The purpose of this communication is to report a case in which C. difficile might have been the cause of sow mortality.

Section snippets

Materials and methods

The case described here occurred in a large Croatian outdoor swine operation of 2949 sows between January and March 2003. The breeding females were F1 offspring of Large White × Landrace sows and were mated to Duroc boars.

The sows were uniformly vaccinated in every unit against parvovirosis, erysipelas, leptospirosis, Clostridium perfringens C, Escherichia coli and pseudorabies. Feeding management [4]:

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during gestation restricted, 24–28 megajoule (MJ) digestible energy (DE)/d depending of age and

Results

On gross examinations, sections of small intestine revealed congestion of the submucosa and mucosa. Content of the large intestine was yellow to dark yellow. Scattered suppurative areas were found in the colonic lamina propria. The spiral colon was highly edematous.

On microscopic examination, the small intestine revealed congestion of the submucosa and mucosa, scattered suppurative foci in the colonic lamina propria. Neutrophilic infiltrates were found in the mesocolon. The colonic mucosa

Discussion

Annualized postparturient mortality due to MMA was 6.2% (13% treated, 0.4% non-treated sows) from January to March 2003. In contrast to the case period, the annualized postparturient mortality due to MMA was 2.4% before January and 2.6% after March. The treated sows affected with MMA had similar parity distribution (3.21 ± 0.46) as the other sows of the herd (3.23 ± 0.31), but the sows that died due to C. difficile infection and during the enrofloxacine treatment were younger (1.57 ± 0.11).

During the

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There are more references available in the full text version of this article.

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Postpartum dysgalactia syndrome (PDS) in sows is a frequent and important clinical problem in the field. Currently, the diagnosis is based on physical examination performed during first days after the farrowing.
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C. difficile was isolated from 35.2% and 91.5% of piglets in Thailand and Malaysia, respectively. The most commonly reported risk factors for CDI/colonisation in piglets included animal age, environmental contamination and antimicrobial exposure (Kiss and Bilkei, 2005; Moono, Foster, et al., 2016a). Neonatal piglets are highly susceptible to C. difficile colonisation due to the absence of an established gut flora, and C. difficile is most frequently observed among 1-7-day-old piglets (Songer and Anderson, 2006; Songer and Uzal, 2005).
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Theriogenology

Abstract

Introduction

Section snippets

Materials and methods

Results

Discussion

References (12)

Neonatal piglet losses associated with Escherichia coli and Clostridium difficile infection in a Slovakian outdoor production unit

Br Vet J

Infection of neonatal swine with Clostridium difficile

Swine Health Prod

Serum antibodies mediate systemic and mucosal protection from Clostridium difficile disease in hamsters

Infect Immunol

Evaluation of Clostridium difficile TOX A/B test for the diagnosis of neonatal swine enteritis

Herd health strategy for improving the reproductive performance of pigs

Proceedings of the Eighth “In-between" Symposium of the International Society for Animal Hygiene

Hung Vet J

A survey of agents associated with neonatal diarrhoea in swine, including C. difficile and PRRS

Proc Am Ass Swine Vet

Cited by (27)

Dynamics of pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokine changes in serum and assessment of their diagnostic utility during lactation impairment in pigs

Molecular epidemiology of Clostridium difficile isolated from piglets

Salinomycin and its derivatives – A new class of multiple-targeted “magic bullets”

High prevalence of Clostridium difficile PCR ribotype 078 in pigs in Korea

Selected serum acute-phase proteins in peripartum sows and evaluation of their diagnostic usefulness

Prevalence of Clostridium difficile in diarrhoeic and non-diarrhoeic piglets