Comparison of four lung scoring systems for the assessment of the pathological outcomes derived from Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniaeexperimental infections

Table 4 Description of the different variables assessed in animals with different courses of disease

Variable		Peracute	Acute	Subclinical	Uninfected
Variable		(n = 9)	(n = 31)	(n = 12)	(n = 9)
Clinical signs	Mortality prior to the end of the experiment (%)*	9 (100)^a	0 (0)^b	0(0)^b	0 (0)^b
	Fever at least one day (%)*	9 (100)^a	29 (93.5)^a	6 (50)^b	2 (22.2)^b
	Clinical score higher than 0 (%)*	9 (100)^a	28 (90.3)^a	2 (16.6)^b	3 (33.3)^b
	Mean clinical score (±SD)	1.88 (±0.80)^a	1.32 (±0.70)^a	0.16 (±0.4)^b	0.44 (±0.8)^b
	Inappetence at least one day (%)*	9 (100)^a	21(67.7)^b	3 (25.0)^c	2 (22.2)^c
Production	Mean ADG (±SD) (kg/d)	-1.91 (±0.83)^a	0.47 (±0.4)^b	0.83 (±0.2)^c	0.9 (±0.2)^c
Diagnostic	App-like lesions (%)*	9 (100)^a	30 (96.7)^a	0 (0)^b	0 (0)^b
	App isolation (%)*	9 (100)^a	30 (96.7)^a	3 (25)^b	0 (0)^b
	PCR detection in tonsil (%)*	8 (88.8)^a	18 (58.0)^a	10 (83.3)^a	0 (0)^b
	PCR detection in bronchial lymph node (%)*	5 (55.5)^a	14 (45.1)^a	4 (33.3)^a	0 (0)^b
	Seropositivity to App at death/necropsy*	0 (0)^a	16 (51.6)^b,c	3 (25.0)^a,c	0 (0)^a
	Mean SPES (Min-Max)	3.88 (3- 4)^a	2.09 (1-4)^b	0^c	0^c
	Mean LLS (Min-Max)	17.57 (10.71-31.4)^a	5.17 (0.26-20.94)^b	0^c	0^c
	Mean IA (±SD)	53.3 (±16.11)^a	17.29 (±14.00)^b	0^c	0^c
	Ratio LW/BW (±SD)	0.91(±0. 00)^a,b**	1.27 (±0.54)^b	0.88 (±0.21)^a	0.96^a,b (±0.18)

Different letter in superscript means statistically significant differences within a given variable (p < 0.05). % = percentage; Min = minim; Max = Maximum; SD = standard deviation; *Number of animals showing or being positive by the corresponding parameter. **Data available only from one animal.

ISSN: 1746-6148