A descriptive study of the frequency and characteristics of proliferative enteropathy in swine in Ontario by analyzing routine animal health surveillance data.

Routine surveillance data, collected on pathology submissions at the Animal Health Laboratory in Guelph between 1992 and 1997, were analyzed to determine demographic, clinical, and pathologic characteristics of cases of proliferative enteropathy and the frequency of this condition relative to other infectious enteric diseases in swine in Ontario. The most commonly reported disease was Escherichia coli enteritis (average cases/year = 70.0). Among infectious enteropathies that occur typically in neonatal pigs, coccidiosis (28.4 cases/year) and rotaviral enteritis (5.6 cases/year) were reported. Among infectious enteropathies generally associated with diarrhea in weaner and grower/finisher pigs, the most frequently reported was proliferative enteropathy (27.6 cases/year), followed by swine dysentery (23.3 cases/year), transmissible gastroenteritis (19.6 cases/year), and salmonellosis (8.4 cases/year). Diarrhea and bloody diarrhea were reported in 29% and 31%, respectively, of herds diagnosed with proliferative enteropathy. Important gross intestinal lesions included mucosal hypertrophy (62% of cases), hemorrhage (47%), and mucosal necrosis (34%). Histologic intestinal lesions included epithelial hyperplasia (90% of cases), mucosal necrosis (59%), and inflammation (49%). Our results suggest that proliferative enteropathy is a major infectious enteric disease in grower/finisher pigs in Ontario.