Bugged piglets

7 March 1997

Bugged piglets

PIGLETS have been suffering a new coughing and sneezing syndrome, both before and after weaning, since the New Year that has yet to be identified.

Vet Mark White says it appears this is a Glassers-related soup of bugs, which may include blue ear and other pathogens, and is causing early cases of post-weaning respiratory disease syndrome. "We can treat piglets in the farrowing house and are trying to find the most effective treatment," he says.

Slaughterhouse studies of finished pigs that have suffered the syndrome show high levels of pleurisy and fibrinous pericarditis.