A Review - Intestinal Spirochaetal Infections of Pigs: an Overview with an Australian Perspective

Intestinal spirochaetes have become recognized over the last 25 years as an important group of enteric pathogens. These bacteria cause disease in a variety of animal species, especially pigs, poultry, dogs and human beings (Hampson and Stanton, 1996). In pigs, the bacteria cause two well-recognized conditions, swine dysentery (SD), and intestinal spirochaetosis (IS) (Taylor et al., 1980; Hampson, 1991). A third condition, referred to here as spirochaetal colitis (SC), is less clearly defined, but is associated with certain weakly beta-haemolytic spirochaetes other than those causing IS. Swine dysentery is one of the most significant production-limiting diseases of pigs and is a common problem throughout the world. The significance of IS and SC in reducing production is less clear; certainly, clinical manifestations of the conditions are much less severe than with SD. The prevalence of the diseases is not known, but the authors' observations suggest that IS occurs commonly in pigs in Australia and North America, whilst cases of IS and SC also have been reported in Europe (Taylor, 1992).