Diagnosis and treatment of sudden death of Clostridium welchii in pigs

Sudden death syndrome of Clostridium welchii in pigs, also known as porcine red intestine disease, is a kind of porcine enterotoxemia caused by Clostridium welchii types A, C and D.

1. Symptoms of onset

The disease generally has no premonitory symptoms and shows sudden death. It can also be seen that some sick pigs died of mania, ataxia, hoarseness, abdominal swelling, dyspnea, sudden fall to the ground, foaming at the mouth, muscle trembling, limb movement, pale skin, reverse expansion of the horn bow, and died within 1-3 hours.

2. Pathological changes.

The dead pig has good fat condition and complete rigor; its skin is pale and cyanosis can be seen in some cases. A few diseased pigs have blood foam around their mouth and nose. The protruding anus and the intestines are cherry red to dark red, especially in the jejunum, ileum and anterior part of large intestine. Intestinal dyspnea, intestinal full of blood-colored foamy liquid, mucous membrane and submucosa showed extensive diffuse bleeding and necrosis. In severe cases, the intestinal wall was covered with needle-like and millet-sized bubbles, and the hands felt twisted. Some mesenteric vessels were filled with gas, and the blood vessels were in the shape of chain beads. In some cases, the intestinal wall became thinner or thickened significantly, and the contents of the large intestine were dark red in some cases. Mesenteric lymph node edema and bleeding. The stomach is filled with food and the mucous membrane falls off. The renal cortex showed multiple punctate bleeding. The lungs are congested and the trachea and bronchi are filled with white or reddish foam. Submandibular and inguinal lymph node edema. There are scattered bleeding spots in other organs and reddish exudate in the abdominal cavity.

3. Main points of diagnosis

Most of the clinical symptoms were sudden death, abdominal swelling and pale skin.

Autopsy showed that the whole intestinal segment of dyspnea, hyperemia, bleeding, mostly dark red, punctured intestines, will erupt a foul smell, intestinal contents are mostly dark red.

Small intestinal mucosa or intestinal contents or mesenteric lymph node smears are Gram positive with single or paired obtusely round bacilli at both ends; obvious five-colored or lavender capsules can be seen on tissue smears. Using conventional pathogen culture and isolation technique, gas production began after anaerobic culture of meat and liver soup for 3-6 hours, and Gram-positive gross bacilli was absolutely dominant in microscopic examination. After anaerobic culture on glucose blood Agar plate medium for 48 hours, the colony was about 2mm in diameter, round, smooth, slightly raised in the middle, with double hemolysis ring.

4. Prevention and cure measures

Clostridium welchii is sensitive to oxytetracycline and sulfonamides, but it has little therapeutic effect on pigs because of its acute onset and rapid death. For the same group of pigs, 100 mg / kg oxytetracycline or dimethicillin can be fed for 5 days, which can effectively prevent and stop the occurrence of the disease.