Abstract

The internal and external parasites in swine might result in considerable economic losses. The external parasites, such as mites (sarcoptic mange), lice, flies, fleas and ticks, could have detrimental impact on production in either a direct or indirect way. The mange on average reduces the average daily gain (ADG) by 11% (1-29%) and deteriorates the feed conversion ratio (FCR) by 6% (2-10%) for fattening pigs. The house flies (Musca domestica) and stable flies (Stomoxys calcitrans) can cause 1.2-2.4% decrease in the ADG compared to pens with effective fly control. Some internal parasites, such as Ascaris suum, Trichuris suis and Oesophagostomum species, can also be found worldwide. In most cases the infestation has no clinical sings, thus remains unrecognizable, but the internal parasites deteriorate the production parameters in almost every production period, causing significant production losses. The Ascaris suum infection compared to an uninfected herd decreases the ADG by 2-9%, and deteriorates the FCR by 5-13% for fatteners, the trichuriosis by 6-35% and 3-33%, the strongylosis by 10-29% and 6-44%, the stephanurosis by 25-69% and 3-24%, the hyostrongylosis by an average of 18% and 8%, respectively, and the oesophagostomosis by 6-13% each. In the slaughterhouse the condemnation of liver with "milk spots" due to ascariosis might also cause severe economic losses. For suckling pigs the effective prophylaxis against coccidiosis is of fundamental importance in order to prevent the reduced growth rate, and both the pre- and post-weaning digestive disorders due to secondary infections causing deteriorative performance, consequently financial costs. After a proper metaphylaxis the number of suckling piglets having diarrhoea can be diminished by 83-98%, that of mortalities by 53-63%, the curative antibiotics cost for digestive disorders by 85-90%, respectively, and ADG and FCR can also greatly improve in both the growing and fattening phase.

Keywords

swine, external parasites, coccidiosis, production impact, lice, flies fleas, ticks, fattening pigs, trichuriosis, Stomoxys calcitrans, stephanurosis, oesophagostomosis, slaughterhouse, metaphylaxis, strongylosis, parasites, pathogens, Ascaris suum