[Measures to be adopted in the prevention and treatment of atrophic rhinitis in piglets under field conditions (author's transl)]

Abstract

The following measures designed for the prevention of Atrophic rhinitis (AR) were compared. (1) Adopting the all in - all out system in separate farrowing quarters. The variation in age between piglets in a single farrowing house was confined to one to two weeks. (2) Treating the piglets with a combined preparation of penicillin, chloramphenicol, oxytetracycline hydrochloride or sulphonamides on the third, sixth and twelfth days of life. (3) Administering immune sera to piglets. (4) Vaccinating sows and piglets with Bordetella bronchiseptica vaccine and piggery--specific Pasteurella multocida vaccine. The various forms of treatment had a beneficial effect on the clinical picture in every case of Atrophic rhinitis. Moreover, the dosage of the antibiotic oxytetracycline hydrochloride as well as the titre of the immune serum were found to be factors in the prevention of AR. The pressure of infection with Bordetella bronchiseptica and/or Pasteurella multocida is a factor of major importance in the pathogenesis of clinically apparent AR in piglets under eight weeks. Maintaining infection at a low level is the main object in the control of AR. The more so as the knowledge available today does not make it possible to free piggeries from Bordetella bronchiseptica and Pasteurella multocida.