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. 1991 Mar 1;32(1):67–77. doi: 10.1186/BF03546998

An Abattoir Survey of Pneumonia and Pleuritis in Slaughter Weight Swine from 9 Selected Herds

II. Enzootic Pneumonia of Pigs: Microbiological Findings and their Relationship to Pathomorphology

En slaktehusundersøkelse over pneumoni og pleuritt hos slaktegris fra 9 utvalgte besetninger. II. Enzootisk pneumoni hos gris: Mikrobielle funn og deres relasjon til patomorfologi

K Falk 1,✉, S Høle 1, B M Lium 1
PMCID: PMC8127898  PMID: 1950853

Abstract

Lungs from 191 slaughter pigs with gross lesions indicative of enzootic pneumonia of pigs (EPP) and 80 grossly normal lungs, all originating from 9 different herds, were subjected to microbiological and pathological examinations. The microbiological studies included both bacterial and mycoplasmal culture and also testing for Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae antigen in tissue by indirect immunofluorescent technique. M. hyopneumoniae, Pasteurella multocida and Mycoplasma hyorhinis were detected in 83 %, 43 % and 37 % of the pneumonic lungs, respectively. Mycoplasma flocculare was the most frequently isolated organism in the non-pneumonic lungs. The greatest amounts of macroscopic pneumonia (25.2 %) were recorded in lungs with all the three agents M. hyopneumoniae, P. multocida and M. hyorhinis present. The anmounts of pneumonia in lungs with M. hyopneumoniae alone and in concurrence with P. multocida, were 9.3 % and 15.6%, respectively. M. hyorhinis was also, in this study, associated with higher frequency of diffuse pleuritis. These findings indicate that M. hyorhinis might be involved in the pathogenesis of pneumonia in slaughter pigs. Ninety-six per cent of the isolates of P. multocida from pneumonic lungs could be characterized as type A. In the herds which had the most severe pneumonia problems, toxin production was detected in 83 % of the P. multocida strains while only 28 % were toxigenic in herds with subclinical to moderate pneumonia problems.

Keywords: mycoplasmas, Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae, Mycoplasma hyorhinis, Mycoplasma flocculare, bacteriology, Pasteurella multocida

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