{"id":5329,"date":"2016-08-04T14:42:35","date_gmt":"2016-08-04T13:42:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sesc.cat\/lesions-in-the-mammary-glands-of-sows\/"},"modified":"2022-03-24T19:04:59","modified_gmt":"2022-03-24T18:04:59","slug":"lesions-in-the-mammary-glands-of-sows","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sesc.cat\/en\/lesions-in-the-mammary-glands-of-sows\/","title":{"rendered":"Lesions in the mammary glands of sows"},"content":{"rendered":"

We have lately received a few enquiries related to changes in the mammary glands of female reproductive pig carcases. It is an organ which, in the case of recently weaned or lactating sows, can be allocated to human consumption.<\/p>\n

\"Mammas

Mammas of lactating sows stored for commercialization.<\/p><\/div>\n

Sows usually have about seven pairs of mammas\u00a0(3 to 10) in the \u00a0thoracic, abdominal and inguinal\u00a0regions. The thoracic mammas\u00a0drain to the esternal lymph nodes<\/strong>\u00a0while the inguinal and abdominal to the\u00a0superficial inguinal lymph node<\/strong>. Each mamma\u00a0consists of two separate units of glandular tissue (despite being independent glandular tissues they can be intertwined in one mamma) that drain into a single nipple via two separate conduits. There is no relationship between the different mammas. The arteries and veins that supply the mammary glands\u00a0have anastomoses among\u00a0them.<\/p>\n

Different physiological changes can be observed in such\u00a0carcases. It is normal to find mammas at different stages of hyperplasia or atrophy (dry mammas) in one animal, for example, mammas that have not been used by the piglets become atrophic. These are animals that are producing milk and when weaned, the excess milk has to be reabsorbed and can cause an increase in size and edematous appearance of the draining lymph nodes.<\/p>\n

\"Reproductive

Reproductive sow carcass with mammas in different physiological states: glandular tissue atrophy (dry mammas) (arrow) and mammas still producing milk (asterisk).<\/p><\/div>\n

As for the most common diseases that affect the mamary\u00a0tissue of sows: acute mastitis<\/strong> in sows is\u00a0usually caused by E. coli, S. aureus<\/em>,\u00a0Klebsiella spp<\/em>. and by Streptococcus<\/em> spp. to a lesser extent. Often more than one gland is involved and it is accompanied by systemic reactions (fever) and usually appear shortly after birth, \u00a0associated with postpartum dysgalactia syndrome<\/strong> (formerly known as the mastitis-metritis-agalactia syndrome, MMA). Chronic granulomatous mastitis (formerly known as botryomycosis) can also bee observed, often caused by S. aureus<\/em>, which can involve\u00a0one or more mammas. Despite these microorganisms have been isolated from sows with mastitis they are also found in healthy sows so the etiology of mastitis is multifactorial (hygiene, hydration, immune status of the sow, etc ….).<\/p>\n

A uniglandular mastitis (even\u00a0of more than one gland) does not imply that other glands must have lesions\u00a0because the glands are truly independent<\/strong>, especially in the case of bacterial mastitis where the entrance is through the nipple. It is understood that the rest of the carcass \u00a0should not be affected either.<\/p>\n

Instead, with pathogens arriving systemically such as Mycoplasma<\/em> spp., Mycobacterium<\/em> spp. or systemic fungal infections, for example, one would expect mutliglandular involvement. In these cases lesions should also be observed in the rest of the carcass\/viscera as well as \u00a0during the ante-mortem inspection (apathy, fever, etc.).<\/p>\n

Other lesions often seen in sow’s mammas are skin abscesses<\/strong><\/a>, associated with traumatic wounds or abrasions that piglets might cause during lactation. If the lymph nodes appear reddish it is an indication that, most likely, blood has been reabsorbed from their drainage area. In these cases a detailed inspection of the area is advised, including incision of the sternal and superficial inguinal lymph nodes to rule out the presence of additional lesions. We must also rule out the presence of lesions in other parts of the carcass that drain in these lymph nodes, such as an abscess in the posterior limb which drains into the superficial inguinal lymph node.<\/p>\n

\"Examples

Examples of mammas with traumatic and\/or abscessing skin lesions.<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"In

In one sow a mamma that had a hardened consistency was observed. When cut the mammary tissue was slightly reddened with small hemorrhagic foci. Histologically periacinar fibrosis and presence of neutrophils were observed in the interstitium and, to a lesser extent, inside the alveoli: mild chronic purulent mastitis<\/strong>. Although the lesion indicated a bacterial etiology, microbiological culture gave a negative result.<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Two

Two more carcasses with hardened mamas were sampled. Histologically both had mild periacinar fibrosis but no active mastitis lesions. However, microbiological culture of one of the mammas was positive since abundant beta-haemolytic colonies were isolated identified as Streptococcus<\/em> Group L<\/strong> (which includes Streptococcus dysgalactiae<\/em>, a bacterium that can be a commensal or cause mastitis in cattle and pigs).<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We have lately received a few enquiries related to changes in the mammary glands of female reproductive pig carcases. It is an organ which, in the case of recently weaned or lactating sows, can be allocated to human consumption.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":7387,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[179,225],"tags":[411,397,404],"class_list":["post-5329","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-porcine-2","category-skin-porcine-2","tag-genital-en","tag-infectious-en","tag-skin-en"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sesc.cat\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5329","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sesc.cat\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sesc.cat\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sesc.cat\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sesc.cat\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5329"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sesc.cat\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5329\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sesc.cat\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7387"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sesc.cat\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5329"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sesc.cat\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5329"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sesc.cat\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5329"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}