“ Periweaning Failure to Thrive Syndrome (PFTS)” - difficulties of investigating an emerging clinical problem

In 2008 a presentation for the AD Leman Conference explored a syndrome in newly weaned pigs exhibiting anorexia followed by a catabolic series of events leading to body store depletion. Outcome was either death or euthanasia because of the serious debility of affected pigs. The authors chose the term “catabolic” as descriptive of the condition due to the mobilization of lipid stores, the loss of muscle mass, failure to grow and, eventually, fatty infiltration of liver and debilitation. This discussion described the syndrome, impact in an affected population and provided speculative reasoning that might be mechanistic in development.