IRTA-CReSA at the IPVS-ESPHM 2024 congress

Group photo of IRTA-CReSA participants at the IPVS-ESPHM 2024. Mònica Sagrera, Fernando Petri, Flor Correa, Pau Obregón, Joaquim Segalés, Marina Sibila, Carles Vilalta and Maria Marroco.
From Tuesday 4th June to Friday 7th June, the 27th International Congress of the International Pig Veterinary Society was held in Leipzig, Germany, along with the 15th European Symposium on Pig Health Management. IRTA-CReSA participated in oral communications, poster presentations and panel discussions.
Oral communications and posters
Maria Marroco presented an oral communication on the paper ‘A model to predict water consumption in growing pigs’ at the Welfare and Ethology session held on Friday 7th. Maria shares with you a brief summary of her presentation:
Animal welfare can be measured indirectly by behavioural indicators; a change in water consumption pattern is, for example, one of the first signs in sick pigs. Automatic monitoring of water consumption could therefore provide a sensitive tool for continuous, real-time monitoring of the presence of preclinical and subclinical diseases in pigs. The current study aimed to develop a learning model for the prediction of water consumption behaviour of growing pigs.
Joaquim Segalés presented an oral communication on the study “Retrospective detection of porcine circoviruses in porcine dematitits and nephropathy syndrome cases” in the Virology and Viral Diseases session, on june 5th. Following these words, a brief abstract of the study:
This study investigated the presence of known porcine circoviruses in 102 tissue samples from pigs diagnosed with Porcine Dermatitis and Nephropathy Syndrome (PDNS). The results demonstrated that all samples were positive for PCV-2, while only 20% were positive for PCV-3. Furthermore, PCV-2 viral loads were significantly higher than PCV-3 viral loads. These findings suggest that PDNS is causally associated with PCV-2 infection and not with other porcine circoviruses.
Carles Vilalta presented two posters in short communications to the PLF (Precision Livestock Farming) and Heard Health Management Chaired Posters sessions. The papers presented were ‘Data and technology application in pig health and welfare management: a focus group study of veterinarians in Ireland, the Netherlands and Spain’ and ‘Pig industry stakeholders’ insights into data tools for pig health and welfare management: an online survey in Spain”, respectively.
In addition, Joaquim Segalés, principal investigator of the Endemic Porcine Viruses research line of the Animal Health Programme at IRTA and professor at the UAB, chaired the plenary session of Virology and Viral Diseases oral communications.
We also participated with seven posters presenting the following papers:
- Porcine circovirus 3 (PCV-3) reproductive disease in Iberian gilts in Spain.
- Can immunocrit be used as a monitoring technique for vaccination and infection studies?
- Frequency of PCV-2 viremia in nursery piglets from a Spanish swine Integration System in 2020 and 2022 considering PRRSV infection status.
- Detection of respiratory and systemic pathogens in cases of pneumonia in wild boar in Spain.
- Inoculation of nasal colonizers in newborn piglets can restore the nasal microbiota from the long-term effect of ceftiofur treatment of sows.
- Survey on polyserositis lesions in nursery pigs from Spanish and Brazilian farms.
- Ceftiofur and tulathromycin administration on sows alters the composition of the nasal microbiota of their offspring.
Joaquim Segalés, expert invited by HIPRA
In the context of the IPVS-ESPHM 2024 congress, HIPRA organised an exclusive panel discussion at the Porsche Experience Center with the participation of Joaquim Segalés, invited as a recognised doctor and accompanied by Enric Marco and Tomas Norton. Under the title ‘Pigs & Tech: Driving the future of swine farming’, the three of them were able to discuss and give answers to the question of which are the most important challenges in the pig sector and how they can be tackled through technology.