Biosecurity of pigs at the farm level is the set of practical measures taken to prevent entrance of infection into a pig farm and control the spread of infection within that farm. The goal of a biosecurity program is to keep out pathogens that the herd has not been exposed to and to minimize the impact of endemic pathogens. Pig farm security can be defined as the planning and implementation of a program to minimize various types of risk that can have detrimental effects on the farmstead and pigs. Biosecurity and security procedures are intertwined to enhance the health and productivity of pigs. Numerous factors are involved in the development and maintenance of a cost-effective program for biosecurity. These factors can be thought of as links in a chain; a biosecurity program is only as strong as its weakest link.
ll farm biosecurity and security risk factors are unique to that farm and, thus, each biosecurity plan should be farm specific. The best plans are created by working with a swine veterinarian or veterinary consultant who has extensive knowledge of the farm, employees, and local risk factors.
The application of biosecurity measures differs among farms due to the geographic location of the farm, proximity to other pig farms, epidemiological situation (causes, distribution, and control of disease in the herd), type of swine operation, level of technology used for production, and whether other people are employed on the farm.
Introduction: Controlling and containing endemic and emerging diseases is known to require a collaborative work between all producers sharing the same territory. In the province of Quebec, PRRS virus infection has been an endemic disease affecting the production sector for the last 25 years (1990-2015). It is known to cause losses of CAN$40 million per year. Developing collective and collaborative skills for PRRS control is therefore an excellent model to develop collaborative...
1. Introduction Porcine epidemic diarrhea (PED) is a swine enteric viral disease first documented in the United States (U.S.) swine population in 2013, at which time it sparked a major epidemic [1]. The clinical presentation involves high morbidity and mortality in suckling piglets with diarrhea being the main clinical sign [2, 3]. The disease is caused by a virus (PEDV) in the genus Alphacoronavirus [4] that is largely classified into two main genogroups, the S-INDEL strain and...
Introduction: Owing to inexperience with Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea (PED) but building on experience with Transmissible Gastro-Enteritis (TGE), North American producers utilized various methods of whole-herd exposure and sanitation to eliminate PED virus from sow herds. Compared to continuous farrow flows, elimination was easier in group-mating systems due to the inherent break in piglet ages/flow. Age-segregated flows with movement at weaning to off-site nurseries were easier...
Introduction: Porcine brucellosis, an infectious disease caused by Brucella suis biovar 1, 2, or 3, is a zoonotic disease of public health and economic concern. The infection generally manifests itself as a reproductive disease potentially leading to abortion in sows and infertility in sows and boars. In Europe, the most common agent of swine brucellosis is B. suis biovar 2 which is endemic in European wild boar and hare populations. These wild animals may...
Introduction: Bovine Viral Diarrhea Virus (BVDV) has cattle as natural hosts, but it can infect other animals, such as sheep, goat and swine. Once infected, pigs usually do not present clinical signals of infection, which can leads to a silence viral dissemination among animals. Furthermore, the transmission of BVDV between pigs and ruminants requires direct or indirect contact, but virus transmission among pigs remains unknown. Thus, the aim of this work was to evaluate the...
Introduction: It is a classical but unproven hypothesis that pigs can serve as intermediate hosts between birds and humans in the generation of novel pandemic influenza viruses. Yet the single pandemic virus of likely swine origin is the 2009 pandemic H1N1 virus (2009 pdm), a virus with genetic components of swine, human and avian origin (reassortant). The latter virus has become well adapted to pigs and humans and is now widespread in both species. Avian H9N2 viruses are...
Introduction: African swine fever (ASF) disease was eradicated from domestic swine herds in Brazil in 1984, after six years of hard work, determination and with highly cost due to the occurrence in pig small farms. The ASF virus (ASFV) belongs to the family Asfarviridae being the only member of Asfivirus genus. Our previous studies on ASFV epizootiology and virulence demonstrated that virus has dispersed from the first ASF outbreak in pig herds in Paracambi city of state...
Introduction: After the first signals from the US about devastating PEDv infections in 2013, Europe was extremely motivated to prevent this virus crossing the Atlantic. A baseline study in the Netherlands, conducted in the second half of 2014, showed the naïve status of the Dutch pig industry for PEDv. In November 2014, after the first case of PED was confirmed by GD Animal Health, a PED taskforce, in which the government and all involved organizations in the Dutch pig...
Introduction: Influenza A virus infections causing economic losses are widely spread among swine populations worldwide. Swine can be infected by avian as well as by human influenza viruses. In Europe, over the last decade, three stable lineages of reassortant viruses between avian and human viruses have formed. The human pandemic H1N1/2009 virus has become a fourth player in this field and is currently disturbing the balance of the previously established European porcine...
Introduction: Influenza A virus (IAV) is economically important in pig production and has broad public health implications. Because of public health concerns, some geographic areas have IAV monitoring in swine initiated. In Europe, active IAV surveillance includes demonstration IAV RNA in nasal swabs or oral fluids and/or demonstration of antibodies in serum (SER) samples; however, collecting appropriate numbers of individual pig samples can be costly and...
Introduction: When pathogens become airborne, they travel associated with particles of different size and composition. Particle size determines the distance across which pathogens can be transported, as well as the site of deposition and the survivability of the pathogen. Despite the importance of this information, the size distribution of particles bearing viruses emitted by infectious animals remains unknown. In this study, we characterized the concentration and size...
Introduction: Surveillance systems are critical for accurate and timely monitoring and effective disease control. The use of statistical quality control methods for monitoring endemic diseases which are part of compulsory surveillance programs has not been previously explored. It is important to monitor changes of for instance disease prevalence, which might indicate disease spread. Thus allowing control efforts to be triggered immediately. Materials and...
John Carr (Apiam Animal Health/James Cook University) talks about perimeter fences and the minimal biosecurity requirements, during this Swine It interview with host Laura Greiner....
Introduction: Intervention to a PED break includes initiating a multi-facet program focusing on a planned whole herd exposure, biosecurity and sanitation protocol with the goal of PED elimination. There is no literature following a group of individual sows and gilts over a years’ time to measure fecal shedding, antibody levels and impact on performance. The objectives of this project were to evaluate: 1) Duration of shedding in individual sows 2) Individual sow antibody...
Lisa Becton (National Pork Board) talks about the painful experience of Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea (PED), as well as the improvements made and the measures taken, during this Swine It interview with host Laura Greiner....
Paul Yeske and Ryan Strobel (Swine Vet Center) discuss the obligation of containment when there are positive cases and the measures to take, during this Swine It interview with host Laura Greiner....
Lisa Becton (National Pork Board) comments on the inspection of feed and different areas of risk, during this Swine It interview with host Laura Greiner....
Paul Yeske (Swine Vet Center) talks about control programs and the three stages where the risk should be minimized, during this Swine It interview with host Laura Greiner....
Giovani Trevisan (Iowa State University) commented on some precautions and biosecurity measures to stop the spread of this disease, during this Swine It interview with host Laura Greiner....
Giovani Trevisan (Iowa State University) discussed recent activity and good signs regarding these diseases, during this Swine It interview with host Laura Greiner....