C-reactive Protein, Haptoglobin, Serum Amyloid A and Pig Major Acute Phase Protein Response in Pigs Simultaneously Infected with H1N1 Swine Influenza Virus and Pasteurella multocida

Serum amyloid A could be a potentially useful indicator in experimental infection studies or as a marker for disease severity, according to new research from Poland.
calendar icon 16 January 2013
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Swine influenza (SI) is an acute respiratory disease caused by swine influenza virus (SIV). Swine influenza is generally characterised by acute onset of fever and respiratory symptoms. The most frequent complications of influenza are secondary bacterial pneumonia, report Malgorzata Pomorska-Mól and colleagues at Poland's National Veterinary Research Institute in Pulawy.

The objective of their work published in BMC Veterinary Research was to study the acute phase proteins (APP) responses after co-infection of piglets with H1N1 swine influenza virus (SwH1N1) and Pasteurella multocida (Pm) in order to identify whether the individual APP response correlate with disease severity and whether APP could be used as markers of the health status of co-infected pigs.

In all co-infected pigs clinical signs, including fever, coughing and dyspnea, were seen. Viral shedding was observed from two to seven days post infection. The mean level of antibodies against Pm dermonecrotoxin in infected piglets increase significantly from seven days post infection.

Anti-SwH1N1 antibodies in the serum were detected from seven days post infection.

The concentration of C-reactive protein (CRP) increased significantly at one day post-infection as compared to control pigs, and remained significantly higher to three days post infection.

Level of serum amyloid A (SAA) was significantly higher from two to three days post infection.

Haptoglobin (Hp) was significantly elevated from three days post infection to the end of study, while pig major acute phase protein (Pig-MAP) from three to seven days post infection.

The concentrations of CRP, Hp and SAA significantly increased before specific antibodies were detected.

Positive correlations were found between serum concentration of Hp and SAA and lung scores, and between clinical score and concentrations of Pig-MAP and SAA.

The results of current study confirmed that monitoring of APP may reveal ongoing infection and in this way, it may be useful in selecting clinically healthy pigs (i.e. before integration into an uninfected herd), concluded Pomorska-Mól and colleagues.

They added that these results corroborate their previous findings that SAA could be a potentially useful indicator in experimental infection studies (e.g. vaccine efficiency investigations) or as a marker for disease severity because of correlation observed between its concentration in serum and disease severity (lung scores, clinical scores).

Reference

Pomorska-Mól M., I. Markowska-Daniel, K. Kwit, K. Stepniewska and Z. Pejsak. 2013. C-reactive protein, haptoglobin, serum amyloid A and pig major acute phase protein response in pigs simultaneously infected with H1N1 swine influenza virus and Pasteurella multocida. BMC Veterinary Research, 9:14. doi:10.1186/1746-6148-9-14

Further Reading

You can view the full report (as a provisional PDF) by clicking here.

Find out more information on the diseases mentioned in this article by clicking here.



January 2013

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