The disease
Prevalence of ileitis
Prevalence of ileitis
Ileitis is widespread in swine herds of different production systems worldwide.
This disease is present in every single country that has a significant commercial swine production industry. It was the most frequent cause of disease in grower/finisher pigs reported in the 2000 National Animal Monitoring System survey, occurring on more than one-third of all sites and reported on 75% of large sites (10,000 or more total inventory) (Highlights, 2002).
Studies have shown that the prevalence of PE positive herds ranges from 15 to 100% in different countries, depending on the diagnostic test used.
The Disease
L. intracellularis is a gram-negative rod with a sigmoid or curved shape and with a single long flagellum.
L. Intracellularis has specific infectious mechanisms, and generally appears in the growing and finishing stages.
The signs of ileitis in pigs are diverse, and include hemorrhagic or acute, chronic and subclinical.
The ban on antimicrobial growth promoters in the EU affected the kinetics of the infection in different pig diseases
Economic impact results mostly from productivity losses caused by the disease
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