title: Evidence that periweaning failure-to-thrive syndrome (PFTS) has a genetic predisposition.
abstract: Genetic susceptibility or resistance to diseases is currently drawing increasing attention. This work describes two different breeding herds showing signs of periweaning failure-to-thrive syndrome (PFTS), an emergent swine disease. The disease was diagnosed based on clinical picture and confirmed by histopathology. The possibility of main infectious pathogens was ruled out by immunohistochemistry and PCR. In a simple approach, sires of the affected piglets have been determined using microsatellite paternity analysis, including a healthy group in each case. In each of the two farms, a single boar was found to have sired 45-50 per cent sick animals. Removal of this sire from two farms resulted in a significant decrease in the prevalence of the disease among the offspring, in accordance with other two cases diagnosed, although without including a control group. Since the analysed animals belonged to three different genetic lines, these findings point to the existence of individual genetic susceptibility to this syndrome.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Producción Animal, Facultad de Veterinaria, Universidad de Murcia, Murcia, Spain.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ramis
authors.affiliation: Marco Vetgrup S.L., Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Marco
authors.affiliation: Alvima Porcino SL, Alesanco, La Rioja, Spain.
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Magaña
authors.affiliation: Laboratorios SYVA SAU, León, Spain.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: González-Contreras
authors.affiliation: MSD AH Poland, Warsaw, Poland.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Swierczynski
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Producción Animal, Facultad de Veterinaria, Universidad de Murcia, Murcia, Spain.
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Abellaneda
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Producción Animal, Facultad de Veterinaria, Universidad de Murcia, Murcia, Spain.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sáez-Acosta
authors.affiliation: Servicio de Inmunología, Hospital Universitario Virgen de la Arrixaca, Murcia, Spain.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mrowiec
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Anatomía y Anatomía Patológica Comparadas, Facultad de Veterinaria, Universidad de Murcia, Murcia, Spain.
authors.forename: F J
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: Pallarés
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005183:Failure to Thrive / Q000235:genetics / Q000662:veterinary*; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D008297:Male; D013552:Swine; D013553:Swine Diseases / Q000235:genetics*; D014886:Weaning
keywords: Disease investigation; Genetics; Periweaning failure-to-thrive syndrome; Pigs