The latest Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) Pig Disease Surveillance Report includes notice of the agency’s first diagnosis of oedema disease in East Anglia for many years.
“Oedema disease was diagnosed as the cause of malaise, nervous signs, swollen eyes and death of 30 pigs from a group of 600 eight-week-old indoor growers over a period of a week,” it is stated in the report.
“Three dead pigs were submitted, two had swollen eyelids (pictured below) and there were other non-specific lesions including reddening of the skin of the ventral abdomen, fibrin stranding and excess fluid in the pleural cavities and prominent meningeal blood vessels.”
In addition to noting that this is the first diagnosis of oedema disease in the East Anglian region for many years, APHA commented that “increased diagnoses of oedema disease elsewhere in the country have been noted in 2014, although the reasons for this are unclear”.
“Oedema disease tends to affect rapidly growing pigs and feed factors including changes in diet or nutrient quality may be involved,” said the agency report.
