Productive impact associated to Mycoplasma suis infection in fattening pigs of Brazil

• Grant number: 19/14122-7
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: September 01, 2019
• End date: October 31, 2020
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Veterinary Medicine - Animal Clinics and Surgery
• Principal Investigator: Luís Guilherme de Oliveira
• Grantee: Fernando Antônio Moreira Petri
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências Agrárias e Veterinárias (FCAV). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Jaboticabal. Jaboticabal , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Mycoplasma suis is a bacterium belonging to the group of hemotropic mycoplasmas or hemoplasmas, family Mycoplasmataceae and class Mollicutes. They are epicellular parasites, which adhere to the surface of pig erythrocytes, generating deformations in the target cells. Swine hemoplasmosis or infectious anemia of pigs can be asymptomatic, have nonspecific clinical signs (fever, anemia, weight loss, increased feed conversion) and even lead to death. In the last 10 years, there has been a significant increase in reports of the occurrence of the agent in question in the world. In Brazil, the occurrence of M. suis in technical herds is still little known, as well as the pathological and economic impacts in the productive and sanitary spheres. Therefore, it is necessary to evaluate the productive impact on the daily weight gain (DWG) caused by M. suis infection in pigs in the finishing phase. The aim of this study was to investigate the presence of M. suis in whole blood samples of 350 pigs in the finishing phase. The first collection was carried out at the beginning of the finishing phase (65 days), and the second collection at the time of slaughter of the selected animals (140 days). For this, quantitative real-time PCR assays will be performed for the detection and quantification of a 16S rRNA gene fragment of M. suis per microliter of DNA. Finally, a statistical analysis was performed using the Pearson and Spearman correlation coefficients to verify the association between the quantification of a fragment of the M. suis 16S rRNA gene in the blood samples from the swine sampled and the consequent variations in daily weight gain. The proposed work will contribute to a better understanding of the dynamics of Mycoplasma suis infection in swine from commercial farms in Brazil, since there are scarce studies that aimed to evaluate the rate of infection related to the DWG of these animals raised for commercial purposes.

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

PETRI, FERNANDO ANTONIO MOREIRA; SONALIO, KARINA; DE SOUZA ALMEIDA, HENRIQUE MEIROZ; FERRAZ, MARIA EUGENIA SILVEIRA; STORINO, GABRIEL YURI; DE SOUZA, MAURO RODRIGO; ANDRE, MARCOS ROGERIO; DE OLIVEIRA, LUIS GUILHERME. Porcine hemothropic mycoplasmas infection associated with productive impact in intensive pig production. PORCINE HEALTH MANAGEMENT, v. 6, n. 1, NOV 4 2020. (19/14122-7)