Causes of swine cysticercosis
The pig is the main source of meat for humans. Unfortunately, these pets have relatively weak immunity, especially if they live in large herds on farms or enterprises. Due to the fact that they live in cramped conditions and sometimes do not receive the necessary vitamins, they can pick up various diseases. The most common of these is porcine cysticercosis.
Cysticercosis of pigs
General description of the disease
Porcine cysticercosis is a disease caused by cysticercus Cysticercus cellulosae, which is related to the larval stage of the pork tapeworm Taenia solium. Unfortunately, this disease affects not only pigs, it is also transmitted to cats, dogs and humans.
Most often, cysticercosis in pigs is based in the heart. In humans, larvae live in the eyes and brain. It is necessary to constantly vaccinate, so that cysticercosis in pigs does not manifest itself and a person, as a result, cannot become infected.
What can become the causative agent
Cysticercosis of pigs, or rather its strobilus tapeworm, is usually from 1 to 3 m in length. This scolex has 2 hook bases (23-33). Usually there are about 900 segments in the strobilus. They all have a slightly oblong shape. The width of the stick is 2 times greater than the length, but when it begins to "grow", everything changes the other way around.
The genital openings of such parasites are constantly moving. The main characteristics of cysticercosis in pigs are:
- possible armed scolex;
- three-lobed ovary;
- especially a small number of third-party branches in the uterus of a mature segment (8 -13).
Any segment that is already considered an adult consists of 50 thousand eggs. Usually eggs are circular, small, gray in color, are in a very fragile and delicate shell, which can easily die outside of a living organism. Such oncospheres have 3 components of embryonic hooks, which in turn can reach 0.02-0.03 mm in length and 0.03 in width. Cellulosae is a kind of transparent ball that has the shape of a circle, its size can be compared to a small pea or bean. Finnosis can cause a tapeworm reaction.
Life span
Cysticercosis of a pig develops only if there are definite owners, in our case it is a person and intermediate creatures - pigs. In any case, the human body is a carrier of cysticercus with secretions into the external environment. After a lot of destruction, they all break and free themselves, that is, they cling to the animals. The pigs themselves are very sensitive to coprophagia: they can eat the remains of human excrement along with eggs and cysticercus segments, thus becoming infected with cysticercosis.
Cysticercus in the body of medium carriers can live for 2-4 months. The human carrier is initially infected with theoniosis. This usually happens when a person eats raw pork meat that has been contaminated with cysticercus, or meat that has been poorly cooked.
In the body, tapeworm becomes "adult" only at the age of 2-3 months. Prior to that, parasites live and develop in the intestines, the ability to understand that they are there is minimal. It's the same with animals. They develop very slowly and imperceptibly.
You can notice small changes in the behavior of the animal. It can often "ride" on the bottom, bite itself there, start to eat a lot and sometimes introduce itself strangely.
General data on epizootology
The main source of infection in swine cysticercosis is a person who, in turn, is sick with teniasis. Teniosis at the stage of maturation "leaves" a person and scatters its ovaries everywhere. Thus, a pig that does not have an immune system against such cysticercus catches them immediately. This is all due to the fact that the pigsties are not kept clean, they neglect all the rules of hygiene.
Such tapeworms have a very stable immune system, they can survive even in the worst conditions for life. It is because of this that they can infect almost the entire flock in a few days. Tapeworm eggs can survive and be active even when completely dried out. In this position, they can live for several months. If they are kept in a chlorine solution with a tincture percentage of 10-15, then they can live only 5-6 hours. In the photo you can see how they look under a microscope.
How does the disease appear
A very painful condition manifests itself in an animal when the "immigration" of all larvae from the intestine to the main location begins. All this leads to the fact that the disintegration of tissue cells begins, inoculation of all microbes in the body. In addition, worms poison all organ systems and all food that enters the intestines, as a result, allergies.
In pigs, cysticercosis often manifests itself through allergies or constant vomiting of an abnormal color. Allergies can manifest themselves through a profuse rash, large sores, sneezing, or coughing. If the vomit is green or white, it means that the parasites have already spread throughout the body and are beginning to settle in all possible places. The main irritants of such an ailment are finnosis and tenuicol cysticercosis of pigs.
Possible clinical signs
As mentioned earlier, it is very difficult to know if a pig has cysticercosis or not. The disease is often calm and asymptomatic. Of course, the animal senses that something is wrong, but usually does not react to it in any way.
If the percentage of infection in an animal is very high, that is, parasites have already filled the entire body, then the pig can breathe heavily, due to a noticeable deterioration in blood circulation, temporary edema and convulsions may appear.
This disease can lead to the death of the animal if it is too late. This usually happens when the parasites have completely filled the heart of the animal and methodically take all the life out of it. On the Internet, you can find a photo of what an infected heart looks like.
Changes
In those locations where parasites live, you can often notice dystrophy and atrophy of muscle fibers, they also tear the muscles that are interconnected by tissues. In addition, de-branched larvae are often found, another name for which is Finns.
It is almost impossible to make an accurate diagnosis of a living organism. During the examination, allergic and serological tests can be used. In production conditions, the animal is diagnosed immediately after its death.
It happens like this: the animal is cut up and they begin to carefully examine. The first thing to check is the chewing and girdle muscles. After that, the most important organ is examined - the heart, then the tongue, liver, etc.
Preventive actions
First and foremost is the cleaning of all livestock areas. Constant vaccination of the animal is also incredibly important, especially if it is being kept for slaughter. In addition, after slaughter, all meat must be thoroughly checked by all authorities.Today, the law categorically prohibits the sale of animal carcasses if they have not been examined by a specialist, since the parasite's egg can live for several months.
Only carcasses with a tag can be given for slaughter: this means that the animal was healthy. Cysticercosis is a very unpleasant disease, the main spread of which is a person. Unfortunately, it is possible to understand whether there is a parasite in the body of a mumps only after the death of the animal. To be prepared for all the surprises associated with cattle disease, it is extremely important to read the content of the article "cellulosic cysticercosis in pigs": this will allow the correct prevention.