INVESTIGATION OF THE DEATH OF PIGS WITH SIGNIFICANT MULTI-ORGAN HEMORRHAGES IN THE ENDEMIC AREA OF AFRICAN SWINE FEVER AND CLASSICAL SWINE FEVER

Classical Swine Fever and African swine fever are two important viral infections in domestic and wild pigs that continue to pose a severe threat to animal health and welfare. During outbreaks, those diseases can cause major economic ramifications for the affected countries. Although neither disease is zoonotic, the diseases pose a threat to food security, especially in developing countries that rely on the pork as one of the protein sources. Both acute forms of CSF and ASF can lead to very high mortality rates, with the most severe form of ASF can reach 100% of the mortality rate. This study aimed to investigate the cause of deaths in growing-finishing pigs in a smallholding pig farm in Kupang, Indonesia with a high morbidity and mortality history. The farm is in an area known to be endemic to CSF and ASF. All the dead pigs on the farm exhibited similar clinical manifestations. Before death, most pigs presented high fever, lack of appetite, weakness, inactivity, a tendency to huddle together and skin hemorrhages at several parts of bodies. The post-mortem examinations revealed various degrees of multiple organ hemorrhages from the heart, liver, spleen, kidney, intestine, and lymph nodes. The white blood counts showed mostly neutropenia, monocytosis, eosinophilia, and lymphopenia. A tentative diagnose was made based on the clinical manifestations, macro-pathology findings, white blood cell counts, and a brief epidemiology background study. However, to achieve a comprehensive diagnosis, a thorough epidemiology investigation, histopathol-ogy study and a serial of laboratory diagnostic tests should be occupied.