The role of pathology in the diagnosis of swine respiratory disease

The definition “porcine respiratory disease complex” (PRDC) is used to indicate the current approach for presenting respiratory pathology in modern pig farming. PRDC includes pneumonias with variable pictures, mixed with both aerogenous and hematogenous forms with variable etiology, often multimicrobial, and influenced by environmental and management factors. The notion that many etiological agents of swine respiratory pathology are ubiquitous in the airways is commonly understood; however, their isolation or identification is not always associable with the current pathology. In this complex context, lung lesions registered at slaughterhouse or during necropsy, and supplemented by histological investigations, must be considered as powerful tools for assigning a prominent role to etiologic agents. In recent years, the goal of colocalizing causative agents with the lesions they produce has been frequently applied, and valid examples in routine diagnostics are those that indicate pulmonary involvement during porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) and porcine circovirus type 2 (PCV2) infections.