Within- and between pen transmission of Actinobacillus Pleuropneumoniae

Abstract

To investigate if the within pen transmission is more important than the between pen transmission of Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae, a longitudinal observational study on a conventional farm was performed.

This research is part of a bigger project. The first part of the project, within- and between pen transmission in the farrowing unit, was performed and results can be found in another report. My research project focused on the transmission in weaned piglets. There were two batches of piglets. We took tonsil swabs at the same age, approximately 3 weeks and 10 weeks of age. The prevalence of PCR-positive pigs increased with age, the average prevalence of batch 1 and 2 together we found was at T = 4 33,6% and at T = 10 49%. Almost all pens are infected at T = 10. Also we found an odds ratio for a status change from PCR-negative to PCR-positive within a pen with positive pen mates of 8,7. All this points in the direction of within pen transmission being more important than between pen transmission.