Brachyspira Colitis

Other names	Porcine Colonic spirochaetosis, PCS. Serpulina pilosicoli.
Causal agent	Brachyspira pilosicoli a bacteria
Age group	Mainly affects 10-20 week old growers/finishers (30-90 kg)
Clinical signs
Naive herds	A non-fatal wasting diarrhoea disease of growing pigs
	Results in increased days to finish
	Results in a reduction in feed efficiency
	Produces watery/grey brown diarrhoea or loose stools
	The clinical signs are more common 10-14 days after mixing and change of feed i.e to the grower ration
	50% of pigs may show transient to persistent watery to mucoid green to brownish diarrhoea without blood -resembles a cow pat.
Infectivity
	Pigs are infected by faecal-oral transmission
	There are numerous other associated hosts:- dogs, mice, birds, guinea pigs, primates and probably also humans
Incubation period
	6 to 14 days
Stress factors
	Reduce stressors - transport, overcrowding, commingling, resorting, abrupt dietary changes, improper ventilation, wide fluctuation in temperature and inadequate feeders and water allocation
Post-mortem Lesions
		The colon and small intestine may demonstrate areas of inflammation, both acute and chronic. The spiral colon contains abundant watery green or yellow mucoid and frothy contents. Erosions in the colonic mucosa may be evident
Pathogenesis
	The organism results in intestinal mucosal damage and inflammation resulting in enteritis/colitis reducing the surface area of the large intestine available, which reduces the absorptive capacity of the intestine reducing efficiency of feed utilisation. The large intestine is critical for absorption of fluids and nutrients therefore resulting in diarrhoea. Damage to the intestinal wall may also aid the disease and their toxins to gain access to the rest of the body resulting in systemic effects.

Diagnosis
	Bacteriological culture needed, however, samples need to be transported in a media such as Amies transport media
	PCR (DNA analysis) can identify the organism
	Histological analysis by silver stains
	Review the health records
Treatment
	Aim to identify subclinical infected carriers
	Reduce environmental contamination
	Increase sanitation
	Antimicrobial therapy in both water and feed may be useful
	Reduce access to wildlife, birds and rodents for example in feed stores
	Reduce concurrent causes of enteritis/colitis
	Eliminate all draughts and chilling
	Move towards all-in/all-out
	Reduce scrape through passageways
Common differentials
	Swine dysentery, Salmonellosis, TGE, PE (ileitis), Intestinal parasites -Trichuris suis or Isospora suis (whip worms or Coccidiosis)
Zoonotic implications - human risk
	It is possible that the disease may be similar to human colonic inflammation and may therefore have a health significance