A study funded by the Swine Health Information Center Wean-to-Harvest Biosecurity Research Program, in partnership with the Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research and Pork Checkoff, assessed the development of an effective and practical biosecurity entrance system. Led by Dr. Teng Lim at the University of Missouri, various biosecurity interventions were evaluated for their effectiveness, including air showers, disinfectant spraying, disinfectant fogging, and their combinations, on reducing bacterial and viral contamination of cloth, skin, and hair surfaces. While full-body showering was confirmed as the most effective method, a system combining air showers with disinfectant spraying and hair nets performed similarly, revealing opportunities and challenges with novel methods.
Find the industry summary for Swine Health Information Center project #23-049 here.
Traditional biosecurity measures such as shower-in/shower-out and Danish entry systems (DES) are effective but can be difficult to consistently implement due to time requirements and compliance by farm personnel. Farm-specific coveralls and human hygiene are critical barriers to pathogen entry. However, overlooked aspects such as worker hair, clothing, and dirty hands remain significant reservoirs for pathogen transmission. Human hair is a naturally shedding material that can carry and release pathogens when not properly covered with hair nets or sanitized through physical (showering) or chemical means. Since a single lapse in protocol can lead to pathogen introduction, developing alternative or supplemental methods that are practical, efficient, and acceptable to workers is essential.
Objectives of this project were to evaluate a combination of innovative biosecurity-effective entry systems for commercial pig farms as replacement options for the strenuous shower-in and shower-out system. The study was designed to evaluate the effectiveness of multiple biosecurity interventions—including air shower (AS), disinfectant spraying (DS), disinfectant fogging (DF), and their combinations—with and without integration of the DES and hair nets (HN). Another treatment was the Modified-DES (MO.DES), which was the DES but instead of hand washing, it utilized hand sanitizer. Three representative surfaces, including coverall or t-shirt, leather or pigskin (representing human skin), and faux fur (representing human hair), were contaminated with two bacteria, Staphylococcus aureus (Gram-positive) and Escherichia coli (Gram-negative), and two viruses, canine distemper virus (CDV, enveloped) and feline calicivirus (FCV, non-enveloped), to assess the efficacy of the treatment methods.