On three farms a total of 25 breeding sows gave birth to alopecic young in 4 months beginning with January, 1978. None of them were alopecic.The gestation period was prolonged by 3-5days. Many piglets suffered from troubles.Some littermates were born dead. Some were too weak to suckle and died 2-24 hours after birth.In severe cases, all the littermates were born dead or remained alive for only a few hours.
In the newborn young, the skin was edematous, especially in the head, neck, and shoulder, and poor in hair, particularly in the hypogastric region and extremities. Autopsy revealed an enlargement to the thumbtip size, softening, and dark-purplish discoloration of the thyroid gland. Histopathologically, hair follicles and hairs were hypoplastic, and congenital hyperplastic struma was noticed.
The average blood level of iodine binding with protein was 1.03 and 2.93μg/dl in pre-and post-suckling piglets, respectively. It was much lower in these piglets than in the normal one.The sows had been fed a home-combined feed containing 0.19-4.24 ppm iodine. Iodine deficiency of the sows seemed to be the cause of typical alopecia of the newborn young.
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