Adam Moeser North Carolina State University

Publish Date: April 19, 2012

Edema disease is an enteric disorder caused by E coli. Although considered an enteric disease, neurologic signs and multiorgan pathology are hallmarks of this disease. Disease is caused by pathogenic serogroups of E. coli that express F18 or F4 pilus types which are important for binding to F18 E. coli receptors on the intestinal epithelium. However, F18 E. coli intestinal receptors are not fully expressed in the pig until approximately 21 days of age and therefore E coli edema disease only occurs in post-weaned pigs. The source of infection in pigs is unclear but disease has occurred in new nurseries suggesting that farrowing room infections may be the source.

Publish Date: April 9, 2012

Diarrhea is one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in neonatal pigs. Diarrheal disease in neonates is often sudden in onset and causes a rapid decline in clinical condition as the pig becomes dehydrated and develops systemic infections. Thus prevention, early identification, and immediate initiation of supportive care and treatment in neonatal diarrhea cases are critical. This fact sheet will review the basic aspects of neonatal diarrhea in pigs including clinical signs, pathogenesis, diagnosis, and control strategies.

Publish Date: July 8, 2006

North Carolina State University Swine Nutrition Research from 2003. Corn constitutes a major portion of swine (and poultry) feeds. As such, its impact on manure production by animals can be expected to be substantial. Indeed, sieving fresh feces obtained from grower pigs (Kasper et al., unpublished) demonstrated that approximately 40% of the fecal dry weight was corn hulls (pericarp). This suggests that removing pericarp (indigestible fiber) prior to feeding pigs may result in a substantial reduction in manure production.