Changes in the concentrations of serum urea nitrogen, albumin, globulin, sodium, and inorganic phosphorus in weaner pigs infected with Trichuris suis

The changes in the blood chemistry of weaner pigs after experimental infection with Trichuris suis were related to the severity of the clinical signs of disease. Infection with 15 000 T. suis ova produced no clinical signs and no significant biochemical changes. Infection with 50 000 ova caused progressive and large decreases in serum sodium concentration, small decreases in inorganic phosphorus concentrations and increases in urea concentration; there were also falls in serum albumin concentrations and rises in globulin concentrations. Infection with 100 000 ova caused more rapid falls in serum sodium concentration and increases in serum globulin, but the changes in urea and albumin did not become significant before the animals died. These changes were related to the degree of severity of the anorexia and diarrhoea caused by the T. suis infections.