Proliferative enteropathy (PE) caused by Lawsonia intracellularis has been reported in horses in the USA, Canada, Australia and Great Britain. Diarrhoea caused by Brachyspira antigen-containing spirochaetes has been diagnosed in a horse in Japan. The presence of Lawsonia intracellularis or Brachyspira spp. have neither been investigated in healthy nor in sick horses in Sweden. The purpose of this study was to survey the occurrence of the two bacteria in Swedish horses. Faecal samples were gathered from 108 foals without any clinical signs of illness in the age of four to eight months.

Lawsonia intracellularis is an important pathogen in the intestine, causing diarrhea and retarded (or poor) growth in pigs. Diagnostics is based on sampling of small amounts of faeces. Several publicated scientific papers mention the use of faecal swabs as sampling material for diagnosis in experiments and in prevalence studies. Therefore the need of an evaluation of this sampling technique is urgent since, to our knowledge, this has not previously been done. Here reported work compare the use of rectal swabs for feacal sampling, with sampling and analysis of 0.1-0.2 gram of faeces. The studie included twelve herds with a case history of earlier or ongoing problems with diarrhoea where Lawsonia intracellularis could be suspected as the causative agent. A total of 120 growing pigs where examined.

Porcin proliferativ enteropati (PPE) är en vanligt förekommande tarmsjukdom bland tillväxtgrisar över hela världen och orsakar stora ekonomiska förluster inom grisproduktionen. Sjukdomen orsakas av den obligat intracellulära bakterien Lawsonia intracellularis och är en vanlig orsak till diarré och nedsatt tillväxt bland unga djur. För att kontrollera och förhindra Lawsonia intracellularis-orsakade infektioner har ett oralt, levande och attenuerat vaccin (Enterisol ® Ileitis vet.) framställts. Syftet med denna studie var att utvärdera vaccinets effekt i en smågrisproducerande svensk besättning. En fall-kontrollstudie utfördes i en sektionerad, smågrisproducerande, svensk besättning med en känd infektionsstatus avseende Lawsonia intracellularis, där man vet att smittan finns i tillväxtavdelningen.

Proliferative enteropathy is a group of disease conditions in pigs where the disease may vary from subclinical to critical with bloody loose feces. The etiological agent is the obligate intracellular bacteria Lawsonia intracellularis. L. intracellularis infects enterocytes from jejunum to colon. The bacteria is taken into cells and start to replicate and cause a massive proliferation of immature enterocytes.