Occurrence of selected bacterial and viral pathogens in
smallholder pig production systems in Uganda
Michel Dione1, Charles Masembe2, Joyce Akol1,4, Joseph Kungu5, Winfred Amia1, Barbara Wieland3
1International Livestock Research Institute, Kampala, Uganda; 2College of Natural Sciences, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda;
3International Livestock Research Institute, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; 4College of Veterinary Medicine Animal Resources and Biosecurity, Makerere
University, Kampala, Uganda; 5National Livestock Resources Research Institute, Tororo, Uganda
Background
 Smallholder pig production plays a
big role in the livelihoods of several
communities in Uganda
 Pigs potentially harbour several
pathogens, most of which might be
insidious.
 There is poor management and
biosecurity in pig farms
 There is lack of sufficient
information on pig diseases and
their economic impact in Uganda
Material and Methods
 320 apparently healthy pig herds
were selected from 32 villages; 10
herds per village.
 Household questionnaire completed
 In each herd, up to 3 pigs were
sampled, in total 684 serum
samples.
 Antibody ELISA was performed
using commercially available kits
 Chi-square test was used to test for
any significant association between
the occurrences of pathogen’s
antibody with pig rearing, age and
breed type.
Conclusions and
recommendations
Research on pig pathogens in Uganda
normally focuses on the ‘big killers’,
such as African swine fever. This study
however highlights the need to conduct
more research on other pathogens,
since they could contribute to high
mortalities, but also because they
hamper productivity in pigs in Uganda.
Follow-up investigations to characterise
the most commonly pathogenic
serotypes and genotypes of the above
pathogens, and study the dynamics
and impact of these pathogens in
current smallholder pig production
systems are warranted.
Results
 High prevalence observed for
Streptococcus suis, Leptospira.
spp, Porcine Circovirus 2 (PCV2),
Actinobacillus pleuro-pneumonia
(APP) and Mycoplasma
hyopneumonia (M. hyo.).
 Significant differences were
observed between districts with S.
suis higher in Masaka (P=0.016)
and M. hyo, Influenza A, and
PCV2 higher in Lira (P=0.00,
P=0.00, P=0.03 respectively)
Pathogens Prevalence % (CI 95)
Aujeszky’s disease virus (ADV) 0.2 (0.00-3.62)
Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory
Syndrome Virus (PRRS)
1.3 (1.64-11.28)
Porcine parvovirus (PPV) 4.5 (1.64-11.28)
Influenza A 5.8 (2.23-12.60)
Mycoplasma hyopneumonia (M. hyo) 15.4 (8.65-23.53)
Actinobacillus pleuro-pneumoniae (APP) 23.0 (15.00-33.00)
Porcine circovirus 2 (PCV2) 43.7 (34.08-54.28)
Leptospira spp. (Lepto) 70.6 (61.07-79.64)
Streptococcus suis (S. suis) 83.3 (74.18-89.77)
Michel Dione
m.dione@cgiar.org ● International Livestock Research Institute, Kampala/Uganda
www.ilri.org
Association of Institutions for Tropical Veterinary Medicine (AITVM) and the Society of Tropical Veterinary Medicine (STVM) Conference, Berlin, 4-8 September 2016
We thank all donors that globally support our work through their contributions to the CGIAR system
This poster is licensed for use under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence (September 2016)