Standardised Swine Disease Outbreak Investigation Instrument Now Available

A new tool developed on behalf of the Swine Health Information Center will help swine producers and veterinarians contribute to swine disease outbreak investigations.

In response to the need for tools to assist in the investigation of swine disease outbreaks a team of academics and veterinarians, with funding from the Swine Health Information Center, has developed a standardised investigation instrument.

Swine Health Information Center Associate Director Dr. Megan Niederwerder says the instrument consists of a form that producers and veterinarians can use a guide to gather the data that will assist in an outbreak investigation.

Clip-Dr. Megan Niederwerder-Swine Health Information Center:

The investigation form can be downloaded on the swinehealth.org web site right now and essentially it's a word document that can be downloaded and then can be filled out during an outbreak investigation.Essentially within that form there are specific sections on the information and data that the investigator should collect, such as was there a new semen source that came into the herd over the last month?

How are the mortalities managed?If you have a compost pile, do you review and measure the temperature of the compost pile to ensure inactivation? If you have rendering what is the biosecurity protocol in place for pickup?What are the biosecurity protocols you have for your feed deliveries and for your feed mill?
It's really questions to allow the investigator to systematically go through the form and think about not only what risk factors are present on the farm but what risk factors occurred around the time period of the outbreak.

Dr. Niederwerder says, in addition to the standardised questions, the form also reminds the investigator of all the potential inputs that could have been contaminated with a pathogen and how that pathogen may have been introduced.