Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
How do swine practitioners and veterinary pathologists arrive at a diagnosis of Clostridium perfringens type A enteritis in neonatal piglets?
- Journal:
- The Canadian veterinary journal = La revue veterinaire canadienne
- Year:
- 2013
- Authors:
- Chan, Gloria et al.
- Affiliation:
- Department of Population Medicine (Chan · Canada
Plain-English summary
This study looked at how veterinarians and pathologists diagnose a gut infection called Clostridium perfringens type A enteritis in very young pigs. The veterinarians usually noticed signs of diarrhea in piglets aged between 1 to 7 days and felt quite sure about their diagnosis. On the other hand, pathologists used lab tests to identify the bacteria and its toxins, but many of them were less confident in their findings. The research suggests that the current methods for diagnosing this infection aren't very specific, as the symptoms can be similar to other gut diseases. Overall, while veterinarians felt confident in their diagnoses, pathologists had more doubts about the accuracy of their conclusions.
Abstract
A questionnaire was administered to 22 veterinary practitioners and 17 veterinary pathologists to investigate the methods used for diagnosis of Clostridium perfringens type A enteritis in neonatal pigs. Practitioners generally diagnosed C. perfringens type A associated enteritis by age of onset of diarrhea (between 1 to 7 days of age). Most practitioners (95%) were moderately to very confident in their diagnosis. Pathologists generally diagnosed C. perfringens type A associated enteritis by combinations of isolation of the organism, genotyping or detecting the toxins of the organism, and ruling out other pathogens through histopathology. Almost half (41%) of the pathologists were not confident of their diagnosis. This study reports that the current diagnostic method for C. perfringens type A enteritis is not specific, and although many pathologists expressed reservations about making a diagnosis of C. perfringens type A enteritis, most practitioners were confident in their diagnosis, even though reported clinical signs of clostridial diarrhea are similar to those of a number of other enteric diseases.
Find similar cases for your pet
PetCaseFinder finds other peer-reviewed reports of pets with the same symptoms, plus a plain-English summary of what was tried across them.
Search related cases →Original publication: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24155437/