A novel Respiratory Health Score (RHS) supports a role of acute lung damage and pig breed in the course of an Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae infection

Abstract

Background: Bacterial lung infections are a major cause of economic losses in the pig industry; they are responsible for approximately 50% of the antibiotics used in pigs and, therefore, also present an increasing concern to consumer protection agencies. In response to this changing market we investigated the feasibility of an old approach aimed at the breeding selection of more resistant pigs. As a first step in this direction we applied a new respiratory health score system to study the susceptibility of four different pig breeding lines (German Landrace, Piétrain, Hampshire, Large White) towards the respiratory tract pathogen Actinobacillus (A.) pleuropneumoniae.

Results: A controlled experimental aerosol infection with an A. pleuropneumoniae serotype 7 isolate was performed using 106 weaning pigs of defined breeding lines from the breeds German Landrace, Piétrain, Hamphire, and Large White. Pigs were clinically assessed on days 4 and 20 post infection following a novel scoring system, the Respiratory Health Score (RHS), which combines clinical, sonographic and radiographic examination results. The ranking on day 4 was significantly correlated with the ranking based on the pathomorphological Lung Lesion Score (LLS; Spearman Rank Correlation Coefficient of 0.86 [p < 0.0001]). Based on their RHS pigs were assigned to the different quartiles independent of the breeding line. The RHS-based rankings of pigs on day 4 and on day 20 were highly correlated (Spearman Rank Correlation Coefficient of 0.82 [p < 0.0001]) independent of the breeding line. Pigs of the Hampshire line were predominantly found in the lowest scoring quartile (47.6%) and absent in the highest scoring quartile. In contrast, pigs of the German Landrace and Piétrain breeding lines were predominantly found in the highest scoring quartile (32.3% and 35.7%, respectively).

Conclusion: These results demonstrate that the RHS obtained from live pigs shows a highly significant correlation to the lung lesion score considered as a "gold standard". The correlation of the ranking at days 4 and 20 post infection implies that the course of disease is highly dependent on the acute lung damage. The different severity of signs among the tested pig breeding lines clearly suggests a genetic difference in the susceptibility of pigs to A. pleuropneumoniae infection.

Figure 1

Algorithm for calculating the Respiratory Health Score (RHS). Clinical, sonographic and radiographic scores were normalized by division with the score causing death in an animal, added, divided by three and multiplied by 100 in order to get a value in percent. The RHS has a possible range from 0 to 100%. The maximum clinical score on days 4 and 20 is 20 and 100, respectively.

Figure 2

Correlation of RHS and lung lesion score on day 4 (a), and on day 20 post infection (b). The Spearman Rank Correlation coefficient (SCC) was calculated using 47 (a) and 45 pigs (b), respectively, and was highly significant (p < 0.0001) for both time points. The number of pigs with a LLS of 0 was 21 (a) and 23 (b), respectively. DL = German Landrace, H = Hampshire, P = Piétrain, LW = Large White; the number in parenthesis indicate the number of pigs of each breeding line.

Figure 3

Correlation of RHS on days 4 and 20 post infection. The Spearman Rank Correlation coefficient (SCC) was calculated to using 45 pigs and was highly significant (p < 0.0001). DL = German Landrace, H = Hampshire, P = Piétrain, LW = Large White; the number in parenthesis indicate the number of pigs of each breeding line.