This article was written by Kaitlin Sullivan for the UMN CVM magazine, Profiles.
Mycoplasmal pneumonia of swine (MPS) first appeared in pigs a century ago, when producers had a hunch that it wasn’t influenza that was taking their droves. Today, the disease is nearly endemic.
“It exists in just about any country where pigs are raised,” says Maria Pieters, DVM, PhD, director of the College of Veterinary Medicine’s (CVM) Swine Disease Eradication Center.
When the minuscule bacteria, called Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae, first enter a pig’s lungs, it can easily go undetected. But as the pig approaches the finishing stage, the bacteria cripples its respiratory system and stunts the swine’s growth. The infected pig takes longer to reach market size, elevating costs for producers. They also suffer, something veterinarians strive to eliminate.
There’s a better way to manage the spread of the disease, and Albert Canturri, a PhD candidate in CVM, is designing it.
Continue reading “Pinpointing pathogens, dead or alive: CVM graduate student designing better way to manage respiratory disease in swine”