Seroprevalence of Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae in sows fifteen years after implementation of a control programme for enzootic pneumonia in Switzerland.

Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae is the etiological agent of enzootic pneumonia (EP), an economically important chronic respiratory disease in pigs. M. hyopneumoniae impacts the mucociliary clearance system by disrupting the cilia and modulates the immune response, resulting in intermittent dry non-productive cough. For progressive control of EP in Switzerland, a corresponding programme was fully implemented in 2004. It is based on total depopulation strategies of affected fattening farms as well as partial depopulation in breeding farms. Surveillance of EP status in Switzerland is mainly based on real-time PCR of nasal swabs from coughing animals or suspicious lungs and thereby sporadic cases are still observed every year. In order to obtain information on the seroprevalence, serum samples of 5021 sows from 968 farms collected in 2018 at eight different slaughterhouses were analyzed for the presence of M. hyopneumoniae-specific antibodies using a commercial ELISA kit. The overall seroprevalence was low with 0.98% of sows testing positive and these seropositive animals could be allocated to 3.92% of farms tested. Most seropositive farms presented weakly positive singleton reactors and only one farm showed several strongly seropositive animals. In conclusion, the serological status mirrors the successful progressive control of M. hyopneumoniae in the Swiss domestic pig population over the years. The current study underlines the added value of serological testing in the surveillance of EP in a country with low prevalence and confirms the sustained benefit of strategic control programmes.

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