Foreign Animal Diseases (FAD) and African Swine Disease (ASF)
Disease events are clearly in the forefront of everyday news. COVID 19 is dramatically affecting our lives. In the swine world, African Swine Fever (ASF), Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) and Classical Swine Fever (CSF) continue to affect animals globally. North America is constantly at risk to be infected due to world travel and the bringing of contaminated products into our country. Farm biosecurity is critical to being on the winning team with or without an FAD event. Biosecurity can be strengthened by the following 10 items:
- Communication – Talk about farm biosecurity with all team members every week. Talk about events going on in the world, in the US and in your neighborhood. Constant communication keeps everyone focused on doing the right things every day and helps instill the culture of biosecurity on the farm.
Help people realize they fight an invisible enemy –Viruses and bacteria are microscopic and because we cannot see them it is easy to dismiss them. As humans, we are a million times bigger than bacteria and 10 million times bigger than viruses! In general, on a dry surface, the PRRS virus can live a week at room temperature. So you can see that without intervention, this virus and others can enter your farm and infect your animals.- Clean up people before they enter – The use of a bench in front of the shower to remove footwear prior to entering the shower area is a good process. Make sure staff and visitors respect the clean/dirty sides to the shower. Keep all farm equipment, clothing and towels on the clean side of the shower. If no shower is available, consider using a bench, change into farm clothing and footwear, and wash or use disinfection wipes on hands. If you have a shower but it needs to be upgraded to be used routinely, now is the time.
Clean up supplies before they enter – Good protocols exist on how to clean up potentially contaminated supplies. Normally cardboard and other difficult to disinfect materials are removed and sprayed with disinfectant. Often heat is added to shorten kill time. Make sure the incoming supply room flows all in/all out and does not become a storage room.- Know the status of animals before they enter – A pre-ship test of incoming animals to sow farms is recommended. The test should occur as close to the ship date as possible. Incoming animals should be isolated in a separate area with proper airflow. A post arrival test can also be done 48 hours after arrival to make sure the transport event occurred without contamination.
- Protect key physical entry/exit points of your farm –Have protocols in place each time an exit door opens. Often a change of clothing and disinfection occurs after an exit door is opened and then closed before farm workers are allowed to return to normal farm operation. Key events would be weaning pigs, getting garbage out and removing cull sows.
- Feed can be a vector for disease – Many agents are available to put in feed to help reduce viral and bacterial contamination. Retrieval feed should not be used for sows and should not be used if from a contaminated site. Also, broken feed augers should be disinfected prior to putting back into feed lines from the outside.
| Mitigant | Company | Mitigant Type | Inclusion rate lbs/ton |
| Captisure | Kemin | Medium chain fatty acid | 20 |
| Vigilex | Provimi | Medium chain fatty acid | 8 |
| Activate DA | Novus | Organic acid blend | Up to 11 |
| SalCURB | Kemin | Formaldehyde + propionic acid | 6.5 |
| Termin-8 | Anitox | Formaldehyde + propionic acid | 6 |
Contaminated feed can serve as a vector for viral infection in pigs. Feed additives containing various acids have anti-viral properties. Several feed additives have been studied to assess their ability to reduce viral load of contaminated feed as a method to reduce risk of introducing high-risk pathogens (PRRS, PED, foreign animal diseases).
- Know status of transport vehicles –Truck washes and disinfection as well as heating and drying are effective methods to clean up livestock transport trailers. Ensure the inside of the cab is cleaned and disinfected after each load as well as all tools used to help with animal movement. For finishing pigs, review the location of the clean-dirty line and where the trucker is allowed to go.
- Air as a pathogen vector -Farms with air filtration systems already know that air is a vector for disease. Routine inspections of all filters should be mandatory. A routine inspection of the entire farm looking for air leaks is also needed. Included in this process is monitoring of rodent control as rodents can quickly damage filters.
- Audit key events – We often think we know what is going on at the farm without being present. An audit of key biosecurity processes is essential to ensure they are being done correctly. The audit is also a great opportunity to have an educational discussion with farm staff. Often a specific person at the farm can be used as a “biosecurity expert” to support the biosecurity culture of the farm.
Conferences
Swine Vet Center at the 2020 Minnesota Veterinary Medical Association Conference
Dr. Laura Dalquist spoke at the MVMA (Minnesota Veterinary Medical Association) conference on February 20th in Minneapolis on “Antibiotic Stewardship in the Swine Industry.”
Swine Vet Center at the 2020 A.A.S.V. Conference
Once again, Swine Vet Center had a great presence at the 2020 American Association of Swine Veterinarians annual meeting.
Dr. Alyssa Betlach gave a presentation named “Development of Cost-Effective Surveillance Protocols to Minimize the Risk of Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae Introduction to Sow Farms” in the Research Topics session.
Dr. Paul Yeske along with Prairie Systems presented “Utilizing LeeOTM Individual Animal Identification System” in the Industrial Partners session. Dr. Paul also judged the posters.
Dr. Brad Leuwerke presented “A Practitioner’s Perspective on Managing Bacterial Pathogens” in the Disease Control, Prevention and Elimination session.
Dr. Ross Kiehne chaired the session “Pigs are Easy; People are Hard”. Topics covered were how to influence people, review of characteristic profiles and how to use them, and how to identify and deal with depression with colleagues and clients.
Dr. Mike Eisenmenger gave a presentation in the Biosecurity session of the meeting called “Day to Day Transport Biosecurity: The Real World”. Dr. Eisenmenger also participated in a Q&A round table discussion on transportation.
Dr. Chris Sievers won the practice tips award with his tip “Taking the Sour out of Scours with 2 Easy Steps”
SVC Office Hours: Monday through Friday 7:30 AM to 5:00 PM
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