Pneumonia disease assessment using a slaughterhouse lung-scoring method

The aims of this study were the evaluation of a quantitative method for the assessment of pneumonia lesions applied to heavy-weight slaughtered pigs, the identification of risk factors connected with the increase in the prevalence and severity of the lesions and the evaluation of a possible correlation between the presence of pneumonia lesions and the decrease in the carcass quality. The lungs of 10 041 pigs (109 slaughtered batches) coming from 91 farms located in Northern Italy were examined. Lung lesions were scored using the method developed by Madec and Kobisch (Journ. Rech. Porc. Fr., 14, 1982, 405). Before the scoring, anamnestic information regarding the farm of origin of each batch were collected. For 41 batches (3603 pigs), information about carcass quality were also collected. Pneumonia lesions were found in 59.6% of the lungs (range 3-91%), and the average batch score was 2.11 (range 0.03-7.15). We identified as farm risk factors those related to an increase in the severity of the lung lesions, the presence of breeders within the herd, the starting of a growing cycle during the winter season and the lack of vaccination programmes to Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae. Moreover, we also found a statistically significant association between the increase in the mean lung score of the batch and the decrease of the carcass quality.