Effects of a live yeast dietary supplement on fecal coliform counts and on peripheral blood CD4+ and CD8+ lymphocyte subpopulations in nursery pigs

Materials and methods: Forty-eight nursery pigs were used in this experiment. At 35 days of age, pigs were randomly assigned to two treatments (control and yeast-supplemented groups) with 24 pigs per treatment. Blood and fecal samples were collected on study days 0, 7, 14, 21, 28, 35, and 42. Proportions of subpopulation of T lymphocytes (CD4+, CD4+CD8+, and CD8+) were analyzed by flow cytometry, and fecal coliform counts were performed according to standard techniques.