Identification of erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae infection from a pig farm in Meghalaya, India

During midseptember, 2012, our laboratory has been approached to investigate pig mortality in a newly brought weaner batch at pig farm showing symptom of fever, conjunctivitis, anaemia, diarrhoea, anorexia with sudden pig mortality in 04 weaners and another 06 animals were in morbid condition. The animals were on gentamicin treatment along with supportive therapy but were not responding. On initial postmortem of one recent piglet, intestinal haemorrhage was seen and initial suspect was towards swine fever but it was ruled out as polymersase chain reaction (PCR) for swine fever came out to be negative on the postmortem samples and also on the sera of morbid animals. During the course of investigation 03 more animal died within 1-2 days, initially the animals were showing only intestinal haemorrhage but the last piglet showed multiple organ haemorrhage in postmortem which was not seen earlier and surviving piglets have also became anaemic. At this point of time, we suspected of Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae infection which was not detected in this region earlier, and was than confirmed by PCR amplification of 16sRNA of Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae on the spleen collected from the last piglet. Accordingly, antibiotics effective for E. rhusiopathiae in combination of Amoxicillin and Cloxacillin was given and the outbreak was controlled within 24 hour and all surviving animals responded well with only one more death which was already in the last stage.