Erysipelas: Identifying risk factors for clinical cases in Dutch pig herds

Abstract

Factors associated with swine erysipelas were investigated in 47 Dutch pig herds (18 cases and 29 controls). Data related to the erysipelas outbreak, erysipelas vaccination, external biosecurity, internal biosecurity, diet and climate were collected by a survey for veterinarians specialized in pig health. Veterinarians from all over The Netherlands were approached to get information about the Dutch pig herd. For every case herd, two control herds were selected by the veterinarian (matched case-control study). Controls were the same herd type as the case and they had no history of erysipelas in the last five years. Factors related to erysipelas were identified by conditional logistic regression and Chi square analysis. Only location of the sow (farrowing barn) seemed to be significantly associated with erysipelas (p=0.002263). Further research is needed to identify risk factors present in farrowing barn. Hardly cleanable pens, non-application of all in all out and liquid feed consisting of wetfeed were marked as trends (0.05 <p< 0.2). However, none of the examined risk factors could be excluded definitely, because of the small dataset.