[Transmissible Gastroenteritis in Swine (author's transl)]

Abstract

Transmissible gastroenteritis or TGE is a virus diarrhoea which occurs in pigs of all ages and is associated with high mortality rates in the young piglets. Growth of virus in the columnar epithelium of the small intestine causes atrophy of the intestinal villi, malabsorption, watery diarrhoea and dehydration. Faecal excretion of virus usually continues up to fourteen days after infection but chronic carriers have been found to occur. TGE is self-limiting on the majority of pig-breeding farms but the virus may persist in particular conditions and an enzootic form of the disease will appear in this case. In typical outbreaks, the diagnosis can usually be based on clinical symptoms. When the disease runs an enzootic course, a clinical diagnosis will be out of the question. TGE should be differentiated from colibacillosis and from another virus diarrhoea, the aetiology of which is not precisely known. A rapid and correct diagnosis may be established by direct fluorescent antibody studies of frozen sections of the small intestine in infected piglets. When sows have been spontaneously infected, their offspring will be protected by lactogenic immunity. The presence of TGE antibodies of IgA class in the milk is required to ensure complete immunity of the piglets lasting for weeks on end. Intramuscular inoculation of a commercially available vaccine in sows will only stimulate the production of antibodies of the IgG class in the milk. These antibodies will merely afford short-lived immunity. The vaccine cannot prevent symptoms of disease from appearing in piglets following infection with virulent TGE virus but it does reduce mortality