Ileitis

 The signs of ileitis are similar to other enteric diseases, which can make diagnosis difficult.

Subclinical ileitis – No apparent clinical signs of the disease are present, however it has been reported to slash average daily gain by 38 percent and feed efficiency by 27 percent.¹ Stress, from things like weather and moving or commingling pigs, may cause the disease to elevate to clinical ileitis.  

Chronic ileitis – Typically occurs between six and 20 weeks of age and results in soft, watery and/or pasty diarrhea, and poor and uneven growth rate among pigs.

Acute ileitis – Usually affects pigs in the finishing stage and can cause bloody or black diarrhea, weakness and depression, and occasionally, sudden death.   

A major sign that a pig is infected with ileitis is failure to grow even with normal food intake. Ileitis can cause proliferation of the immature intestinal epithelium cells. Necrosis of these fast growing cells affects feed efficiency because nutrients are not absorbed properly. There may also be a decrease in water intake.

 Disease Transmission

This disease is primarily transmitted through fecal shedding and has a high transmission rate. Even subclinically-infected pigs can shed the organism.¹ Pigs can shed the organism for up to 12 weeks after clinical signs have abated. 

1. Paradis MA, McKay RI, Wilson JB, Vessie GH, Winkelman NL, Gebhart CJ. Subclinical ileitis produced by sequential dilutions of Lawsonia intracellularis in a mucosal homogenate challenge model, in Proceedings. 36th Annu Meet Amer Assoc Swine Vet, 2005.

Ileitis can be diagnosed through post mortem or ante mortem testing. Fortunately, tools for diagnosing ileitis exposure and infection have become more readily available in the past few years.  

STOMP Plus^®

Zoetis offers STOMP Plus – a diagnostic program to help pinpoint what diseases are occurring, as well as the level and timing of infection, so control programs can be implemented when they will do the most good. The program involves a combination of serology and fecal PCR testing. Contact your veterinarian or Zoetis representative if you are interested in testing your herd.

LINCOMIX^® Feed Medication is approved to control ileitis. It offers zero-day U.S. withdrawal at all feeding levels and has no weight restrictions. Medication timing is critical to minimize the disease load and keep pigs from developing lesions and significant clinical signs. In addition to medication, employ biosecurity and sanitation measures to minimize bacteria spread.

Ileitis – LINCOMIX delivers on the bottom line.

Ileitis can cause major economic devastation if not controlled properly. Due to decreased average daily gain, poor feed efficiency, mortality, culls and days to market, the economic impact of this disease is estimated at $51.6 million.¹

1. Holtkamp D, Rotto H, Garcia R. The economic cost of major health challenges in large U.S. swine production systems, in Proceedings. 38^th Annu Meet Amer Assoc Swine Vet, 2007.

LINCOMIX^® (lincomycin) Feed Medication