Alternative Scoring Method of Pleurisy in Slaughtered Pigs: Preliminary Investigations

The slaughterhouse is very useful in monitoring the health status of livestock, the profitability of their breeding and the effectiveness of therapeutic and/or prophylactic strategies. Over the years, a number of methods have been developed to quantify lesions - especially those effecting the respiratory tract, observed in slaughtered animals. Among these is the "Slaughterhouse Pleurisy Evaluation System" (SPES), which is widely used to score pleural lesions caused by Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae. The aim of the present study is to develop and assess an alternative method to score pleurisy in slaughtered pigs, based on the inspection of the parietal pleura. This method has been compared with the SPES grid, which is considered as the "gold standard" in this field of study. Preliminary data indicate that the two methods provide almost overlapping results, showing very high correlation coefficients. Scoring pleurisy on the parietal pleura proved to be fast and easy, it could represent a valuable alternative to the SPES method.
Comment: Proceedings of SIPAS, 2018