Microbiological Findings and Associated Histopathological Lesions in Neonatal Diarrhoea Cases between 2020 and 2022 in a French Veterinary Pig Practice

Abstract

This retrospective study described the aetiologies of neonatal diarrhoea cases and their associations with histological findings. A total of 106 diarrhoeic neonatal piglets were selected. Cultures, MALDI typings, PCRs and evaluation of intestinal lesions were performed. A total of 51 cases (48.1%) were positive for only one pathogen and 54 (50.9%) were positive for more than one pathogen. Clostridium perfringens type A was the most frequently detected pathogen (61.3%), followed by Enterococcus hirae (43.4%), rotavirus type A (38.7%), rotavirus type C (11.3%) and enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (3.8%). Only lesions in the small intestine were correlated with detected pathogens. The detection of rotavirus was associated with an increased probability of observing villous atrophy (p p = 0.01) and leucocyte necrosis in the lamina propria (p = 0.05). The detection of Clostridium perfringens type A was associated with an increased probability of observing bacilli in close proximity to the mucosa (p p = 0.04). Detection of Enterococcus hirae was associated with an increased probability of observing enteroadherent cocci (p Enterococcus hirae-positive piglets (p Clostridium perfringens type A- and Enterococcus hirae-positive piglets (p = 0.04 and p = 0.02, respectively).

Keywords

• piglets
• neonatal diarrhoea
• histopathology
• <i>C. perfringens</i>
• <i>E. hirae</i>
• rotavirus