Coccidiosis is a parasitic disease of great impact on animal production. In pigs, the protozoa of the genera Eimeria and Isospora are responsible for this disease.

These parasitic protozoa have an obligate intracellular biological cycle, which means that part of this cycle takes place inside enterocytes. During their cycle, they damage the intestinal mucosa of the animals, reducing the absorption of nutrients, causing diarrhea and, consequently, decreasing animal´s productive performance.

The lactating piglets are the most susceptible to suffering from this disease, which is mostly due to Isospora suis. The route of contamination is fecal-oral, through sporulated oocysts eliminated by contaminated piglets, which can eliminate more than 100,000 oocysts per gram of feces.

The main predisposing factors of coccidiosis include the age, nutritional and immune status of the animals, as well as the hygiene conditions of the facilities and handling of the animals.

Swine coccidiosis is more prevalent during the lactation stage, due to the number of stressors for the piglet that are present during this stage and that reduce its immune response.

The prevention plan for swine coccidiosis must include two essential points: the hygiene of the facilities and appropriate handling practices and the stimulation of the immune system of piglets to fight the infection.

Facility hygiene and handling practices

It is necessary to carry out an adequate cleaning of the facilities, using water vapor or ammonium or hypochlorite-sodium compounds, since, although oocysts are very resistant to most disinfectants, the number of oocysts in the environment can be reduced and therefore reduce the infective pressure for piglets.

A management practice that must be put into practice, as a preventive measure, is the management “everything in – all out”, which consists of making a sanitary vacuum after each production cycle. At the same time, it is important that workers begin cleaning and feeding tasks, as well as other handling practices, always in the least infected pens, to reduce mechanical transmission.

Another practice to consider are cross-adoptions, which favor the transmission of oocysts between pens, so it is recommended that this practice is always done only during the first 24 hours postpartum.

Stimulation of intestinal immunity of piglets

Together with correct hygiene and management practices, it is of great importance to ensure the intestinal immune status of the piglets, so that they can cope with the infection.

There are molecules of plant origin capable of stimulating the intestinal immune system of piglets. These molecules, known as intestinal optimizer pronutrients, increase the synthesis of defensive molecules (immunoglobulins) by the intestinal mucosa, allowing the piglet to cope with protozoan infections.

Several studies have shown that oral administration of intestinal optimizer pronutrients, during the first week of life, effectively prevents neonatal coccidiosis and at the same time improves their productive performance.

In these studies, it was observed that the use of intestinal optimizer pronutrients allows to reduce mortality by 4% and increase the weight of piglets by 900 grams per piglet, in the first 21 days of breeding.