AIDS-Like Symptoms Threaten Pigs

March 30 -- Forget about the current media spotlight on Mad Cow and Foot and Mouth diseases for a moment. Our discovery today is about a disease in pigs that in many ways is like AIDS.

This horrendous disease, at one point called “swine mystery disease,” “blue abortion,” and “swine infertility,” and now referred to as “Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome,” or PRRS, has infected some pigs in about 75 percent of American pig herds, according to experts. Vaccines have only partially been effective.

The disease also has been creating a nightmare for many other nations since at least the mid-1980s.

Pigs Are Dying

The reproductive and respiratory syndrome, which often kills baby pigs, is characterized by a variety of conditions and is causing economic hardship for pig farmers. Affected mothers lose up to 10 percent of their pregnancies. Their babies are spontaneously aborted or are stillborn. As many as 20 percent to 30 percent of survivors may suffer and die from respiratory disease, such as pneumonia.

The PRRS virus is said to primarily attack a pig’s immune system, leaving the body open to a host of other infections, particularly in the lungs. Some pigs develop a chronic infection and become carriers but show no symptoms.

Research reveals that the virus is transmitted via semen, saliva and blood. Those pigs herded closely together and transported at close quarters by trucks may be more susceptible to infection.

To date, there is no evidence that the virus can infect humans from any source, including via food. Researchers looking for signs of the virus in pig meat haven’t found any.

Scott Dee with the University of Minnesota College of Veterinary medicine, a PRRS researcher, says the disease is the “most economically devastating swine disease there is,” and that the “problem is getting bigger,” but he bristles a little when I introduce the term “AIDS” into the conversation.