Swine pox: causes, symptoms and home treatment

Many livestock farmers are dealing with swine pox. This is a serious viral disease that leads to intoxication of the body and the appearance of a rash on the surface of the skin. Before proceeding with the treatment and prevention of such a disease, it is necessary to familiarize yourself with its features and description in more detail.

Pathogen and causes of the disease

Smallpox is a dangerous viral disease that is difficult to treat. Most often, the disease is caused by different strains of smallpox, which can only affect certain types of animals. If we talk about swine pox, then its spread is carried out by three types of pathogens:

• cow virus;
• pork virus;
• vaccinia.

There are several ways to get infected with the virus. However, most often, piglets get smallpox through the intestines, mucous membranes, skin surface and respiratory tract. The virus enters the body of a he althy animal after direct contact with an infected individual. You can also become infected with carriers of the virus who are in the incubation period. It is worth noting that not only animals tolerate vaccinia, but also people.

The virus is resistant to many factors. It can only be destroyed during exposure to acids or ultraviolet radiation. Pathogens can remain on the skin of animals, in food and on equipment for six months. The virus, which was previously on the surface of skin with pockmarks, has even greater survivability and does not die for more than a year.

Most often, smallpox occurs in pigs in autumn and winter. This is facilitated by a lack of vitamins in the body, malnutrition and a weakened immune system. Other reasons that may cause illness include:

• inappropriate conditions;
• non-compliance with quarantine requirements;
• refusal to disinfect the barn, which previously recorded cases of infection with the virus;
• appearance of inventory with pathogens on the farm;
• a large number of rodents in the pigsty.

Swine pox symptoms

To determine the presence of the disease in time, you need to familiarize yourself with its symptoms. Immediately after the appearance in the body, the virus actively spreads over the surface of the skin, and also penetrates into the mucous membranes and the digestive system. The incubation period of the disease is several weeks. The initial stage of smallpox has the following symptoms:

• increase in body temperature to forty degrees;
• loss of appetite and problems with food digestion;
• inflammation inside the mucous membranes of the nasal cavity and eyes.

Often the above symptoms mislead people, as they begin to think about the appearance of a cold. However, after 2-3 days, smallpox begins to appear much brighter. The following symptoms appear:

• formation on the surface of the skin of roseola, which have a pinkish tint;
• formation of papules in the central part of roseola that appeared earlier;
• discharge of exudate from wounds;
• transformation of wounds into vesicles;
• suppuration of wounds;
• the appearance of pus and the formation of a dense crust on the surface.

Some individuals who get smallpox develop diarrhea, severe itching of the skin and an unsteady gait.

Diagnosis of disease

It is difficult to make a diagnosis on your own, and therefore, the help of specialists will be needed to identify smallpox. It is necessary to conduct special laboratory tests to test the animal for the presence of smallpox.

During the diagnosis, virological studies will be needed. To conduct them, you will have to take sections of the smallpox rash and place them in securely closed test tubes. Conducting such studies, they try to detect the accumulation of smallpox virions. A bioassay is also carried out on piglets that are susceptible to the disease. If a virus is present in the test material, then pockmarks should appear a week after applying the suspension.

To identify the type of virus, an electron microscopy of the material is performed. It is collected from pigs that are infected with the virus and need treatment. Microscopy may reveal smallpox virions. Sometimes paracrystals of the protein type are found with them.

Home treatments for swine pox

Pig pox is considered a serious disease that often leads to the death of animals. This disease is relatively young, and therefore there is no effective treatment yet. Therefore, it is recommended to closely monitor the he alth of gilts and examine them for symptoms.

If smallpox infection is suspected, the sick individual should be immediately isolated from other animals. The barn where the sick piglets were kept needs to be disinfected.

Despite the fact that there is no cure, the affected areas of the skin still need to be treated to speed up healing. The following means are used for this:

• 2% sodium solution;
• formaldehyde;
• 3% sulfur-carbon blend.

To avoid complications in sick animals, the following must be done:

• Administer antibiotics to help ease the piglet's condition. The most commonly used is streptomycin.
• Treat crusts with ointment or neutral fat.
• Apply chlorine solution and iodine to ulcerated surfaces.
• When pus is released, treat wounds with chamomile decoction with potassium permanganate.

Prevention measures

It is necessary to regularly carry out preventive measures to prevent the spread of the disease. To keep gilts safe from smallpox, farmers can do the following:

• do not use food or equipment from disadvantaged farms;
• pigs arriving at the farm should be kept separate from other animals for a month;
• do regular veterinary check-ups;
• monitor the condition of the sheds that contain pigs;
• organize a ventilation system inside the pigsty for normal air circulation;
• add more foods rich in vitamins and minerals to your diet.

Conclusion

Smallpox is a dangerous disease that can infect piglets and other farm animals. Each farmer should familiarize himself with the detailed description and features of such a disease. This will help in the future to diagnose smallpox in time and prevent its occurrence in other animals.

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