Red intestinal serosa with gas bubbles - Atlas of swine pathology

Where:
Possible causes: Clostridium perfringens
This is an unweaned piglet's intestine. There are portions of the intestinal serosa with a bright red colour and with many gas bubbles that alternate with yellow segments.
Microscopically, the lesions seen are necrosis of the villi with a massive presence of bacilli, haemorrhage, emphysema and bacterial embolism.
The diagnosis is a necrotic-haemorrhagic enteritis due to Clostridium perfringens type C.
Because of the appearance of gas bubbles in the serosa, a differential diagnosis of an idiopathic emphysema process should be carried out.