Porcine Circovirus type 2 – Systemic disease on pig farms and associated knowledge of key players in the pig industry in Central Uganda

Wilfred, Eneku; Mutebi, Francis; Mwiine, Frank Norbert; James, Okwee-Acai; Lonzy, Ojok

All the farmers or their representatives (n = 131; 100%) had never heard of PCV2-SD as a disease of pigs. Neither use of any vaccine against PCV2-SD nor diagnosis of PCV2-SD was reported among the pigs on any of the farms visited. In the three focus group discussions (FGDs), although all the respondents reported ever seeing weaned piglets getting emaciated, none knew about PCV2-SD and as such, there were no local names for the disease. In one of the FGDs, one participant (male, Wakiso) reported: "I have never heard about such a disease". "[……] not even the doctors who treat my pigs have ever told me that my pigs are suffering from the disease you mentioned". Generally, farmers attributed the emaciation of pigs to poor nutrition, helminthiasis or other long standing diseases. When the implicating clinical picture was presented to the farmers, farmers reported the occurrence of such morbidity among grower pigs but no technical personnel had ever talked to them about the disease. One of the farmers (male) with over 600 pigs in Wakiso said, 'When you find any positive result, you let us know such that we improve our management'. Antibiotic therapy especially sulphonamides administration (S-Dime®, Norodine®) and deworming were the common treatments administered to the affected piglets. Regular deworming and proper feeding were reported as the main control practices for progressive weight loss.