Jovan Bojkovski

Among helminth infections of small ruminants in Serbia, nematodes predominate, while trematodes occur at lower prevalence. The most important ruminant flukes in Serbia are Dicrocoelium dendriticum (small fluke) trematodes from the Paramphistomum spp., and Fasciola hepatica (large fluke). Dicrocoelium dendriticum is a common parasite of ruminants but humans can act as accidental definitive hosts. This is most important flukes in small ruminants in Serbia and its prevalence ranges from 12.30% to 78.67%. Paramphistomum is a genus of parasitic flatworms belonging to the digenetic trematodes. In Serbia, P. cervi has been found in sheep, goat and cattle and P. microbothrium has been found in sheep and cattle as well as in deer and red deer. Infection with P. cervi was established in 13.44% of sheep and goat herds and P. microbithrium in 9.48% herds. Fasciolosis is an acute or chronic disease caused by the large fluke Fasciola hepatica. Its prevalence ranges from small ruminants in Serbia are less than 4%. Parasitic infections of sheep and goats caused by trematodes are relatively common in Serbia. Although much less common than gastro-intestinal strongyloid infections, they represent a health and economic problem.

In an organized pig herd, individual animal health care is becoming increasingly less important. In today's environment, char-acterized by a large concentration of animals in a relatively small area, this situation necessitates health care at the farm level. It is commonly known that biosecurity measures are important in pig farming, as they are designed to prevent diseases from entering the farm and to restrict the spread of infections within it. The presence of various breeding diseases of bacterial or viral origin leads to decreased production performance and demands additional efforts from the farm's employees, resulting in higher medication usage and, consequently, reduced economic profit for the farmer. A health protection program in well-organized farming should also include regular parasitological checks, as parasitic infections considerably impact animal health. Thus, parasitological diagnostics must be a part of the routine health monitoring of pigs. It is acknowledged that the willingness of farm personnel to adopt biosecurity measures is crucial for achieving a high level of protection against patho-gen introduction and spread. Implementing these measures requires an understanding of the pigs’ health status. One of the most common risk factors is the introduction of acquiring boars, gilts, or weaned piglets with unknown health status. Along-side the aforementioned measures, vaccination programs also play an important role in stabilizing the health of pigs. Pro-moting good health in organized herds involves applying a system of preventive measures. This paper aims to provide an overview of our research on the importance of biosecurity practices in intensive pig production

Parasitic infections are constant companions of pig production, regardless of the method of breeding. They are equally found in farm and extensive rearing in all production and age categories of animals.Extensive pig breeding has a long tradition. Although this kind of behavior provides pigs with a much more comfortable life than farming (after all, organic production was developed on its principle), it also has many negative consequences for their health. Pigs are exposed to the risk of outbreaks of infectious and parasitic diseases that can cause large losses in production. Extensive and semi-extensive breeding means that pigs have direct contact with a multitude of transitional hosts of parasites, they are in contact with wild swine, and there is also frequent contamination of the area where they are discharged with the excrement of wild animals. Parasitic infections, along with other infectious diseases, are extremely common in this way of breeding. Infection is most often with biohelminths (Metastrongylus sp, causative agents of verminous gastritis, Macracanthorhynchus hirudinaceus) and zoonotic parasites to which pigs are transitional (Trichinella spiralis, Taenia solium, Ascaris ssum) or parent hosts (Alaria alata). There are also species that are equally present in extensive and farm farming, such as e.g. Trichuris suis, Oesophagostomum sp. or Strongyloideus ransomi.

In contemporary industrial pig production, there is a tendency to disregard the animals' biological needs, which has deleterious consequences for their health and significantly impacts production efficiency. The health of suckling piglets is a prerequisite for profitable pig production and is contingent on the conditions of their keeping, care, nutrition, and health control. The control of diseases of infectious etiology on farms can be achieved through the implementation of prophylactic and therapeutic measures, in addition to heightened oversight of professional services. Viral diseases of the digestive organs represent a constant threat to pig production. It is a fact that one of the most prevalent health concerns is the incidence of diarrhea. Diarrhea has been identified as a significant economic and health concern within pig populations. In the majority of cases, therapy is symptomatic and frequently yields unsatisfactory outcomes. Vaccination is not a viable option in most cases, and prevention and disease control are limited to implementing animal hygiene measures. Following the implementation of standard animal hygiene measures on farms, the subsequent step is to introduce internal and external biosecurity measures. This involves the monitoring of biosecurity indicators. In the context of our research project, we undertook the monitoring of diseases affecting the digestive organs of pigs from controlled farms. The objective of the present study was to provide a comprehensive overview of diseases of the digestive organs of viral etiology.

Parasitic infections are constant companions of pig production, regardless of the method of keeping. Caused by several parasitic species, they threaten the health of animals and cause significant economic losses due to lower growth, reduction in body weight of fattening animals and loss of daily gain, poorer feed conversion, and finally, a problem appears in the slaughterhouse industry in the form of confiscation or conditionally usable meat. During research carried out in the period 1991-2021, the most common occurrence of protozoan infections in weaned piglets is that we found the average presence of protozoa Balantidium coli (95-100%), Cryptosporidium sp (17-32%), Eimeria perminuta (27-31%) ), E. debliecki (3-24%), E. polita (4-9%) and Isospora suis (3-13%). Helminth infections Ascaris suum (39-41%), Oesophagostomum dentatum (6-8%), Strongyloideus ransomi (1-17%) and Trichuris suis (1-7%) were also found. The planned application of parasitological, zootechnical and biosecurity measures is crucial in protecting the health of pigs and the success of production.

Very intensive expansion of breeding capacities, early weaning of piglets from inadequate microclimatic conditions, and inadequate nutrition in different production categories caused the appearance of production-related technological diseases. Diseases of the digestive organs are a significant part of pig pathology. Of the enteric diseases, great importance belongs to dysentery. It is characterized by long-term germination and a large number of vectors. Two diseases that were previously considered to be atypical forms of dysentery, resulting from a shortened period of medication and resistance of the causative agent to an exemplary antibiotic, today appear as separate entities. The first is so-called proliferative enteropathy, and the second is spirochetal colitis. Both of these diseases are present in pig herds with different management, often in pig herds with high health status, after the elimination of the causative agent of dysentery. Coli infections are present mainly in weaned piglets and appear in the second week after weaning. In our conditions, the disease is diagnosed on the basis of clinical symptoms, rarely on the basis of pathomorphological changes. On controlled farms (5 commercial farms and 10 extensive breeding farms), a clinical examination of the herd of pigs was performed. Rectal swabs were taken. We separated the sick animals into special boxes and monitored their health. The number of weaned piglets in the weaned category was variable. The number of dead pigs in the fattening category is particularly surprising. The aim of this review is to provide information on bacterial diseases of the digestive organs of weaned piglets in two housing systems and to provide a solution.

Pig stress syndrome (PSS) is an increasingly common disease. The disease is the result of intensive selection for greater fleshiness, which resulted in a point mutation on the 6th chromosome. The disease is an inherited autosomal recessive, neuromuscular disorder of fattening animals. Highly productive pig breeds are most susceptible to stress. The appearance of the disease is influenced by stressogenic factors, and the disease passes in a preacute or acute course. Death occurs within 24 hours from the moment of action of the stressor, while the dead body stiffness occurs very quickly, i.e. within 5 minutes. In pigs prone to stress syndrome after the action of external stimuli, rapid glycogenolysis occurs in the muscles and abundant production of lactic acid, as a result of which the muscles become pale, soft and watery. This kind of meat is not suitable for processing in slaughterhouses, which causes losses in production.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of intravenous administration of vitamin C in the therapy of haemolactia in dairy cows. Haemolactia is often of unknown origin, and it can occur due to vitamin C deficiency. The research was carried out on twenty-eight dairy cows having clinical signs of haemolactia, with a clinical score of 2 or 3. The cows of the group A (n=10) were treated intravenously with 2000 mg vitamin C, those of the Group B (n=10) with 3000 mg vitamin C intravenously, whereas cows of group C (n=8) were served as controls and remained untreated. The vitamin C application was once per day intravenously until symptoms disappeared. The appearance of milk and the therapeutic effects of vitamin C were monitored during milking, based on the visual appearance of milk. The average duration of haemolactia in both treated groups A and B was significantly lower (72 h and 68 h, respectively) compared to the control group C (102 h) (p<0.05 for both). Vitamin C was shown to be beneficial in the therapy of haemolactia; no statistical difference was observed regarding the administered doses of vitamin C (2000 vs. 3000 mg). The results prove the importance of vitamin C administration to shorten the duration of haemolactia in dairy cows

NAC has mucolytic, antioxidant, and antimicrobial effects in living organisms. However, the therapeutic effects of NAC on clinical recovery among neonatal calves with respiratory diseases have not yet been studied. Our study represents the first investigation of the effects of NAC in neonatal calves with pneumonia. The objective of this work was to observe the effects of NAC in the treatment of neonatal pneumonia, including its ability to reduce the clinical score, shorten the duration of the treatment, and improve the overall health condition of neonatal calves. For this study, calves were divided into two groups: a treatment group that received NAC and amoxicillin with clavulanic acid, and a control group that received amoxicillin with clavulanic acid (antimicrobial only). The findings of this study indicate that NAC treatment significantly shortened the time to resolution (p < 0.001), compared to the results in the group without NAC treatment. Generally, NAC-supplemented therapy reduced the recovery time by more than 27 h (or slightly more than one day), compared to that in the antimicrobial-only group. Our study presents the first reported usage of NAC in therapy for respiratory disorders.