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ATROPHIC
RHINITIS
- Page 1 BY: ALEX HOGG, UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA; WILLIAM P. SWITZER, IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY; DANIEL O. FARRINGTON, IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY PORK INDUSTRY HANDBOOK |
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History: Rhinitis is an inflammation of the mucous membranes that line the pig's nose. Atrophic rhinitis, (AR) is a transmissible disease of swine that is characterized by both rhinitis and wasting away or lack of growth of the turbinate bones in the nose. The turbinate bones are small scroll-like, mucous membrane-covered structures in each nostril. They condition the air by warming, moistening filtering it during the inspiration phase of respiration. Other forms of rhinitis include necrotic rhinitis (bull nose) and a virus disease, including body rhinitis. These diseases cause inflammation without turbinate atrophy. This discussion will be limited to atrophic rhinitis. There are extensive reports in the veterinary literature regarding atrophic rhinitis. The oldest of these reports date back to a German scientist's 1831 description of atrophic rhinitis. The disease was first described in the United States and Canada in 1942-43. It had undoubtedly existed on this continent much earlier. Incidence: Atrophic rhinitis is widespread among the U.S. swine population. Various authors report that 25-75% of all slaughter swine have evidence of atrophic rhinitis. Herd incidence has been estimated at 40-90%. Cause: A bacterium, Bordetella bronchiseptica, has been proved to be widely distributed causative agent of AR in the U.S. Other bacteria, especially Pasteurella, may be involved as secondary invaders that intensify the disease. Irritating gases in the pig's environment and concurrent diseases such as diarrhea or chronic pneumonia have been suggested but not verified as factors causing intensification of atrophic rhinitis. The problem is complicated by the fact that B. bronchiseptica can be carried in respiratory tracts of many mammals such as cats, dogs, mice, rats, and even man. The following facts explain how B. bronchiseptica bacteria survive and infect pigs: 1. In a dry area exposed to the sun, most of the organisms will die in 5-6 weeks. 2. In a cool, shaded moist area, the organisms may survive up to 4 months. 3. All of the common disinfectants and fumigants are effective against the organism if they come in contact with it. |
4. The organism lives and multiplies almost exclusively in the respiratory tract but is not confined to the respiratory tract of only swine. Control and eradication plans would be much more successful if B. bronchiseptica were exclusively an organism of swine. 5. It has been recovered from the respiratory tracts of a wide range of mammals including man, cats, dogs, rodents, and many others. It may occur with a much lower frequency in the respiratory tract of birds, but at present birds are not considered to have very much potential for spreading the disease. 6. The organism has been recovered from flies and ants. The possible insect spread of the infection must receive additional study. 7. Not all strains of the organism have equal disease producing ability (virulence) for swine. There are as yet no practical laboratory tests to tell the degree of virulence of an individual strain of the organism for the pig, but it appears that many of the nonswine-origin strains may have low pathogenicity for pigs. Herds infected from nonswine sources frequently require a few years of pig-to-pig passage before turbinate damage becomes apparent. On the other hand some swine herds infected by the introduction of clinically infected pigs will have clinical disease in pigs farrowed within a few weeks of the introduction of the infected pigs. 8. SPF pigs inoculated with B. bronchiseptica at 1-11 days of age had advanced turbinate atrophy 3 weeks after inoculation. Comparison with noninfected litter mates followed to slaughter, however, showed that infection in this case did not result in the development of a lasting, growth-retarding form of atrophic rhinitis. This emphasizes the important role of secondary invaders and environmental management in the atrophic rhinitis complex. Spread: Atrophic rhinitis is spread in three common ways. 1. By an infected shedder sow infecting her litter shortly after birth. 2. Through the air in farrowing houses and nurseries. 3. By exposure to nonswine sources such as cats. Losses: It has been estimated that atrophic rhinitis causes a production loss of 5-10% in the average herd. Losses can be much higher than this when atrophic rhinitis becomes severe and is complicated by poor management. Mortality is low; the losses are mainly in slowed growth and poorer feed efficiency. Some production losses may occur in herds that have minimal clinical signs of the disease. |
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