The incidence and pattern of pneumonia in pigs slaughtered at the Kumasi abattoir, Ghana

Abstract

Pneumonia has been identified as a major disease condition limiting the swine production in West Africa; however the data on its implications to swine health has not been fully elucidated. The pattern and prevalence of pneumonia in slaughtered pigs was determined in respect to the age, sex and breed of pigs slaughtered between a periods of four months (November 2013-February 2014). Samples of the affected lungs were also taken for histopathological analysis using standard techniques. Of 2,462 pigs were slaughtered, 665 pigs were purposefully examined and 33 (5%) were found to have pneumonia. The consolidation was more to the left lung than right while the histological classification showed more of the bronchopneumonia with more peribronchiolar reactions buttressing the cranial lobe consolidation observed in all the breeds. The intact males were more affected than castrates and female while more pneumonia cases were observed in Landrace than Large White and the indigenous Ashanti Black pigs. The younger and aged animals were also more affected. Though the prevalence was more to the late raining season and early dry season, the direct financial loss was 2.5 Million cedis for every one million pig slaughtered. With the indirect financial loss due to weight loss, anorexia and cost of treatment, this loss could be enormous. Hence, there is need for an extensive investigation to identify the causal agents of pig pneumonia in Ghana using isolation and immunohistochemistry techniques in order to initiate the appropriate control strategy to curtail pig pneumonia.