Emergency slaughters in pigs in the Czech Republic during the period of 1997-2002

The aim of the present work was to determine the most frequent causes of emergency slaughters in pigs and the trends of future development. Records from emergency slaughters of pigs all over the Czech Republic were studied for the period of 1997-2002. The causes of emergency slaughters were divided into the following groups: infectious diseases. respiratory diseases, digestive diseases, musculoskeletal diseases, complications post partum, diseases of miscellaneous aetiology. The trends of future development were determined as an index equal to the ratio of relative occurrence of the findings during the period of 2000-2002 to the same figures from the period of 1997-1999. Musculoskeletal diseases were the most frequently found condition (42.39%) with stable figures in the long term (index 1.00). Neither any significant increase nor decrease in the occurrence of this type of diseases were found. Furthermore there was also high occurrence of the diseases of miscellaneous aetiology (29.51%), accounting in particular for the disease of the heart, liver and kidneys. There was a slightly increasing trend in this category of diseases (index 1.16), which was confirmed to be highly significant. The occurrence of respiratory diseases was also high (21.21%), showing the trend of slight decrease (index 0.88), which was nevertheless highly significant. The cases of emergency slaughter were reflected in the total number of condemnations in porcine carcasses (27.56%). This figure showed long-term increase (index 1.19), which was confirmed to be highly significant. It can be concluded that appropriate measures are necessary for the improvement of health status of pigs and reduction of numbers of emergency slaughters. Such measures should be in particular aimed at prevention of musculoskeletal diseases.