News

Producers must take on the responsibility and have a plan to clean up their herds’ was one of the key messages from the Foreign Animal Disease panel at the American Association of Swine Veterinarians (AASV) meeting featuring US State Animal Health Officials Dr Beth S. Thompson (MN), Dr Jeff Kaisand (IA) and Dr Bret Marsh (IN). With limited state resources and an aim that no infected animals leave the infected property (for those pathogens such as ASF that spread through pigs), producers should have a D&D plan in place. Other key messages from this interactive session that was able to relate real-life experiences from HPAI outbreaks in the poultry industry:

– A coordinated approach between state, federal and industry must be well established during peacetime

– Dead animals don’t keep producing viruses – for FAD’s like ASF or CSF, have a plan in place to depopulate on the property and clean up rapidly

– Legislation must be in place to enable producers plenty of options for D&D

– Time is of the essence – use emergency services to drive or fly samples to labs

– Expect rapid changes – most FAD response plans get changed Day 1

– Practice ‘outbreak’ biosecurity every day to establish good behaviours, don’t just ramp up when see a risk

– Get vets certified to collect samples and monitor for clinical signs during outbreak – state resources are limited.

– Know scheduling of lab workflows

– It’s easy to shut things down, but more difficult to start back up, let alone ever catch up!!

Our Australian pig industry and government have been active in addressing many of these key issues over the last few years which is holding us in good stead during the current JEv event. Learning from other’s experiences continues to refine our Biosecurity systems and response plans.