Swine fever is known by several names. This is the classic swine fever, and pork cholera. Most often, small farms are exposed to outbreaks of this infection, into the territory of which the infectious virus can be introduced by wild animals - wild boars. Also, a disease is possible in cases where instructions for the prevention of such a dangerous virus for the livestock as swine fever are ignored.
This viral disease is very contagious. Domestic pigs and wild boars remain vulnerable to it. Its characteristic symptoms are inflamed intestinal mucosa, severe damage to the blood-forming organs and blood vessels, and fever attacks. Most often, the pathology is fatal.
A number of measures are being taken to prevent the emergence of a form of the disease such as classical swine fever. This is a detailed acquaintance with the primary signs of the disease, the diagnosis and fight against infection in the early stages of the disease, isolation of an infected individual, the development of numerous instructions for the destruction of the malicious virus. It is also important to teach veterinarians the skills to identify the classic form of the disease.
Over the centuries, the disease has claimed the lives of millions of individuals. Plague of pigs causes irreparable damage to agriculture and the economic situation as a whole. International veterinary organizations are everywhere monitoring possible outbreaks of infection in order to be able to prevent the risk of an epidemic as early as possible.
The definition of the disease occurs by taking fluid from the spinal canal in pigs. Laboratory diagnosis allows you to reliably diagnose "swine plague." The difficulty in identifying this pathology lies in the fact that there are many clinical signs that are very similar to other diseases.
The severity of the course of the disease depends on the variations of the virus strains, the state of the immune status of the herd at the time of infection and on the age of the animal.
The ingestion of an infectious disease such as swine fever into the body of an animal virus most often occurs due to improper conditions of detention and feeding. Eating food that does not meet the requirements, or livestock conditions that are far from sanitary standards, increase the likelihood of illness. In addition, there are other reasons that increase the risk of infection. An infection such as swine fever can penetrate the body of an animal through the mucous membranes and open wounds by entering feces and excreting an infected individual; the sow can transmit the virus to its piglet. Infection can also occur physically. A person or an insect can transfer the infection from a sick pig to a healthy one.
Classical swine fever has three forms of manifestation. It can occur in mild, acute or chronic forms. In the acute form, the disease lasts no more than 2 weeks. Fatal outcome in this case is one hundred percent.
The chronic form, like the acute one, has the same clinical signs, but the disease is intermittent. At the same time, the protective functions of the pig organism are reduced, which, in turn, makes pigs highly vulnerable to another kind of infection. At this stage, the disease lasts for several months. Outcome - the disease wins.
With a mild course of the plague, there are no clinical signs. The infection spreads through the herd with the feces of an infected pig. Often the only sign of a mild form of the disease may be a decrease in reproductive function or the birth of dead piglets. If the piglet was born healthy from a sick sow, then the disease usually overtakes him after a month.
Despite the fact that the classical swine fever has recently been widespread, in our days, many countries and, above all, Russia, claim the complete eradication of this virus.