PRRS and porcine circovirus have been shown to disrupt thyroid hormone levels leading to reduced growth performance. Researchers with the Western College of Veterinary Medicine have been exploring the effect of disease on thyroid hormone levels in pigs and potential treatment options for the reductions in growth performance caused by fluctuating levels.
Dr. John Harding, a professor in the Department of Large Animal Clinical Sciences with the Western College of Veterinary Medicine, explains scientists looked at thyroid hormone levels in sera from salmonella and Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae trials conducted by Iowa State University, from a salmonella study by the Prairie Swine Centre, from a PCV2 trial by the University of Nebraska and from Brachyspira trials and a PRRS-mycoplasma coinfection trial by the WCVM.
Clip-Dr. John Harding-Western College of Veterinary Medicine:
Of those five diseases, we really found solid evidence of a prolonged suppression in thyroid hormone in only the PCV trial and the PRRS-mycoplasma coinfection trial.