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Better Pork
December 2016
HERD
HEALTH
S
cientists at Ghent University in
Belgium have discovered a new
bacterium in the stomach of pigs
that may be causing gastric ulcers.
The findings were presented by Pro-
fessor Freddy Haesebrouck, leader
of the research team, at the Interna-
tional Pig Veterinary Society (IPVS)
Congress held in Dublin, Ireland,
June 7 to 10, 2016. A proposal has
been put forward to name the bacte-
rium
Fusobacterium gastrosuis
.
Gastric ulcers in pigs
Gastric (stomach) ulcers occur in
grower-finisher pigs, typically be-
tween three and six months of age.
The ulcers occur in the cranial por-
tion of the stomach, at the non-glan-
dular region where the esophagus
opens into and enters the stomach.
This location is the exact opposite to
where gastric ulcers in humans are
located, which is at the other end of
the stomach, the pylorus, the exit
point of the stomach as it enters into
the duodenum, the start of the small
intestines.
Unlike the rest of the pig’s stom-
ach, which is glandular, the cranial
portion does not have protection
from stomach acids by presence of a
mucus coating.
Gastric ulcers can result in sudden
death when the ulcer breaks through
a blood vessel in the stomach and the
pig has a massive bleed out into the
lumen of the stomach. Alternatively,
the ulcer might bleed small amounts
over an extended period causing the
pig to be anemic, unthrifty and have
a reduced growth rate.
Risk factors for gastric ulcers in pigs
Although the cause of gastric ulcers
in pigs is not fully known, a number
of important risk factors have been
determined. “Anything that causes
an empty stomach is a risk factor,”
according to the American Associa-
tion of Swine Veterinarian’s diagnos-
tic notes on the subject.
Feeding finely-ground pelleted
feed, when the average particle size
is less than 700 microns, can cause
stomach ulcers to increase in the
herd. Disruptions in feed delivery
may also trigger an increase in ulcers
as a result of delayed or interrupted
feed consumption. Hot weather or
disease outbreaks, especially of respi-
ratory diseases, can cause the devel-
opment of gastric ulcers.
Cause of gastric ulcers in humans
For decades, the dogma had been
that gastric ulcers in people were
caused by stress. In 1981, Dr. Barry
Marshall, an internal medicine spe-
cialist in Perth, Western Australia,
teamed up with Dr. Robin Warren,
pathologist at the Royal Perth Hospi-
tal in Perth. Since 1979, Dr. Warren
had been identifying curved, spiral
bacteria in the stomach wall of stom-
ach biopsy samples from patients
with gastric ulcers. Dr. Marshall
cultured these bacteria in the labora-
Fusobacteriumgastrosuis: Anewbacterium
possibly related togastriculcers inswine
A trail-blazing finding in human medical research has prompted new questions in swine
veterinary medicine.
by S. ERNEST SANFORD
RGtimeline/Creative RF/Getty Images photo
Gastric (stomach) ulcers occur in grower-finisher pigs,
typically between three and six months of age.