[Etiological study of viral gastroenteritis in swine]

Abstract

Studied were the etiology and spread of nonbacterial gastroenteritis in pigs over a period of five years. Ascertained were cases of diarrhea caused by the virus of transmissive gastroenteritis, epizootic diarrhea, and rotaviruses. The transmissive gastroenteritis virus was found in 14.1 per cent of the investigated material, mostly in the winter months (67.8 per cent), which was 65.6 per cent of the positive cases. The number of cases and that of the farms involved abruptly rose in the last two years of the investigated period when as many as 73.4 per cent of the positive findings were recorded. Thirty to 37.7 per cent of the studied farms proved to be infected. Enzootic diarrhea was recorded on seven out of the 12 studied farms, whereas 30 to 50 per cent of the sampled material was positive. The serologic study of reconvalescent blood sera of pigs from three infected farms revealed that 90 up to 100 per cent of them contained antibodies. In a great part of the sera (from 15 to 68.9 per cent) there were transmissive gastroenteritis antibodies as well. In 6.8 per cent of the Investigated samples and on 30 per cent of the farms there were also findings of rotaviruses. Cases of rotavirus gastroenteritis were recorded the year round with a rising trend in the cold months. Antibodies to these viruses were established on a large scale--from 58.13 to 100 per cent. There were also mixed infections--corona- and rotaviruses or viruses and bacteria.