Which is a salient feature of clinical signs associated with PED?

• A. Clinical signs include diarrhea and vomiting with very high piglet mortality, up to 100%; adults usually recover.
• B. The salient feature of PED is abortion storms. Enteric and respiratory clinical signs are common but resemble other diseases.
• C. The clinical signs can vary and resemble many other diseases, e.g. hemorrhagic lesions on the skin (blue ears), bloody diarrhea, mild fever, and decreased production; therefore, there aren't really any salient features.
• D. Vomiting and diarrhea affecting all animals in the herd similarly, i.e. animal age does not affect the severity of clinical signs.

Answer: (A)

PED is defined by its striking impact on newborn piglets: severe diarrhea and vomiting paired with extremely high mortality in the suckling offspring, while adults typically recover. This extreme, age-skewed mortality is what makes PED’s clinical picture stand out and helps differentiate it from other enteric diseases that affect pigs more uniformly or that cause different signs (such as abortion storms or non-enteric lesions). So the best description is the one that emphasizes very high piglet mortality with adults usually recovering, reflecting the age-dependent severity that is characteristic of PED.