Epidemiological studies of piglet diarrhoea in intensively managed Danish sow herds. IV. Pathogenicity of porcine rotavirus.

Colostrum-deprived piglets inoculated with rotavirus 24 h after birth developed a profuse diarrhoea that spread to non-inoculated, colostrum-deprived litter mates and, occassionally, to colostrum-fed piglets. Case fatality rates in these 3 categories of piglets were 63.2%, 35.7% and 8.3%, respectively. Surviving piglets recovered in 1-2 weeks, but shedded virus via the faeces for up to 3 weeks p.i. The D-xylose test revealed severe malabsorption, with extremely flat absorption curves for up to 3-4 weeks p.i. Malabsorption was more marked in piglets with a long-lasting faecal virus excretion than in piglets where virus disappeared from the faeces within 10 days p.i. Infected piglets (colostrum-fed and colostrum-deprived) had decreased weight gains and were 5 days older at a bodyweight of 25 kg than non-inoculated controls. It is concluded that rotavirus is probably of significance in diarrhoeal syndromes in suckling piglets, alone or in combination with E. coli or other pathogens.