Glasser’s disease: An uncommon presentation of a common disease

Amanda Mansz, Suzanne Burlatschenko

Animal Health Laboratory, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON (Mansz);

Goshen Ridge Veterinary Services, Tillsonburg, ON (Burlatschenko)

AHL Newsletter 2021;25(3):14.

Three mature boars were submitted to the Animal Health Laboratory for postmortem with a history of severe scrotal swelling, decreased appetite and increased respiratory effort.  Postmortem examination of all three boars revealed a severe fibrinosuppurative polyserositis characterized by thick mats of fibrin coating all peritoneal and pleural organs with multiple fibrous adhesions between abdominal organs and within the pleural cavity.  Two of the three boars had severe scrotal swelling with cutaneous hemorrhage and ulceration (Fig. 1).  Incision through the scrotum and testes revealed massive peritesticular edema with an outer layer of fibrotic thickening (Fig. 2).  Bacterial culture confirmed isolation of Glaesserella (formerly Haemophilis) parasuis as the causative agent of the polyserositis.  The massive scrotal swelling was concluded to be an extension of the severe peritoneal inflammation along the tunica vaginalis surrounding the testes.

Glaesserella (formerly Haemophilis) parasuis, is the causative agent of “Glasser’s disease”.  G. parasuis is a commensal organism of the upper respiratory that has the potential to cause disease, most commonly affecting young pigs.  Clinical symptoms range from fever, nasal discharge, coughing, lameness, central nervous dysfunction, often progressing to death.  As a septicemic agent, G. parasuis has a predilection for growth on serosal surfaces (peritoneum, pleura, pericardium, joints, meninges) with infection typically resulting in polyserositis, polyarthritis and/or pneumonia.  

This case is an uncommon presentation of a fairly common disease, and an important reminder that Glasser’s disease can present sporadically in naive adult porcine populations with the unusual lesion of intense scrotal swelling.  AHL

Figure 1. Severe scrotal swelling with cutaneous hemorrhage and ulceration.

Figure 2. Massive peritesticular edema with fibrinous inflammation and fibrosis.

Reference

1. Uzal FA, Plattner BL, Hostetter J M. Alimentary System. In: Jubb, Kennedy, and Palmer's Pathology of Domestic Animals, 6th ed. Maxie MG, ed. Elsevier, 2016; vol 2:252.