Biosecurity requires a daily, organization-wide effort to keep destructive pathogens like bird flu off the farm.
2022 HPAI outbreak
After first appearing in wild bird populations in the winter of 2021-2022, highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) spread to commercial layer, broiler and turkey operations across North America in 2022. It is the first major outbreak since the 2014-2015 HPAI crisis that roiled the turkey and egg industries.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) will release a full epidemiological report analyzing the source and spread of the outbreak at some point in the future. Nevertheless, sources consulted for this article agreed the disease was spread by direct or indirect contact with viral contamination from wild birds.
Dr. Denise Heard, vice president of research programs for the U.S. Poultry & Egg Association, said this is opposed to the numerous biosecurity lapses which led to lateral spread during the 2014-2015 outbreak.
For the most part, the disease was not spread farm-to-farm in 2022. Lower lateral transmission is likely due to the national efforts of the industry and regulatory agencies like the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.
Researchers at the University of Montreal are testing an RFID-based system used in hospitals to monitor boot biosecurity compliance. (Courtesy University of Montreal)
Biosecurity breakdown
If the disease is getting on the farm, however, it means there was a biosecurity failure.
Dr. Carol Cardona, a professor at the University of Minnesota specializing in avian health, said the most critical aspect of biosecurity is the line of separation and the buffer areas between the outside world and the live poultry operation.
Together, Cardona said, those two areas, along with vehicle and equipment biosecurity practices, add up to about 40% of the total biosecurity effort.
“The most important thing is understanding the role of either walking or carrying the virus inside,” Cardona said. “If it’s outside your barns, it has to get in somehow.”
Line of separation
Dr. Manon Racicot, veterinary epidemiologist, risk analyst and adjunct professor at the University of Montreal, said hidden-camera research conducted in Canada shows most biosecurity failures are directly related to how people move from the outside to the inside of a poultry house.
Evidence shows employees aren’t wearing barn specific boots, washing their hands or wearing coveralls as expected or required. Those measures, she said, prevent the introduction of pathogens in the barn.
Her research showed the best way to keep a line of separation is to make compliance easy by design. Providing a large, organized biosecurity anteroom stocked with personal protective equipment and a hand wash station with a physical obstacle like a bench, rather than a painted red line on the ground, between the dirty and clean areas should be a necessary part of barn designs going forward.
Dr. Jon Moyle, an extension poultry specialist at the University of Maryland, said he believes the industry must move away from using footbaths as a biosecurity measure and instead require dedicated footwear, or shoe covers, for the poultry house.
Footbaths require as much as 10 minutes of contact to properly disinfect shoes, and shoes should be cleaned before they are disinfected, so few are receiving a benefit from using them. Dumping footbaths can also present an environmental hazard in some areas.
Personnel movement and equipment sharing
Heard said epidemiological data from the 2014-2015 HPAI outbreak showed the top spreaders were the workers and visitors who entered the poultry buildings and made contact with the birds. The second-most common source was shared equipment or crews that would go farm-to-farm and house-to-house without cleaning the equipment.
Solving this problem, Heard said, requires an organizational focus on biosecurity including direct employee training on best practices, training for third-party contractors and potential site visitors and signage communicating the importance of biosecurity. Constantly retraining is essential because of the high turnover and language barriers common to the industry.
Creating a biosecurity plan that institutionalizes these actions, and makes someone accountable for organizational and operational biosecurity, will help address this problem going forward.
Hygiene and pest control
Other biosecurity failures occur when hygienic practices and pest control measures are not followed.
Heard said manure and dead birds are another potential source of HPAI, so they must be appropriately and promptly disposed. On-site feed, litter and manure storage should limit the attraction of wild birds, rodents, insects and other animals. Whether it’s a tractor or a hand tool, objects used in the poultry house should be cleaned, especially if shared between farms or poultry houses.
Dr. Nick Wagner, a professional services veterinarian with Neogen Corp., said mitigating the risk of exposure to viral contamination from migratory wild birds either directly or indirectly is essential to preventing the introduction of HPAI to a flock. Moyle said doors must be kept closed in between flocks to prevent wild bird contamination. Minimum ventilation will work during downtime.
Wagner said a biosecure farm will have a defined, secure perimeter with strict entry and exit controls as a means to eliminate any and all potential sources of contamination. The site must be maintained to limit the activity of wild birds, and other pests, to reduce the risk of those potential vectors.
Moyle said everyone on the farm should sanitize their cell phone along with any other equipment used in the house. Phones go everywhere with people, are not often cleaned and may be overlooked in biosecurity out of familiarity.
Attitudes toward biosecurity
Cardona said the focus on biosecurity in the U.S. poultry industry began in the mid-1980s and expanded which helped the performance of the industry in the long run. The prevailing attitude toward the concept is good but it’s a daily chore with sometimes wavering commitment.
Research shows growers know biosecurity principles, Racicot said, but high employee turnover, language differences and the constant need to train and retrain employees makes practical application more difficult.
Moyle likened operational biosecurity to drivers following the speed limit. It varies based on individual personalities and circumstances.
Wagner said one key propelling biosecurity program in the U.S. is the National Poultry Improvement Plan, which requires a poultry producer to have an audited biosecurity program implementing the established 14 principles to qualify for indemnity payments.
Improving farm biosecurity
The backbone of success is building a culture of biosecurity compliance where everyone knows what’s expected of them and why its important to follow the rules.
Racicot’s research showed personality assessment is important during selection of biosecurity leaders. A supervisor’s success demonstrating and motivating employees to follow biosecurity practices could come down to attitude and chemistry with the team.
Moreover, Racicot said the best way to maintain compliance is through setting expectations, providing constant feedback to employees and notifying them of biosecurity mistakes and why what they did was non-compliant with biosecurity. Monitoring technologies currently used in hospitals may help growers and integrators better track boot changing and hand washing compliance.
In the future, growers and integrators will need to consider HPAI as a nearly constant risk. Cardona said wild bird populations and migrations need to be considered a real threat to poultry operations due to their ability to transmit bird flu. Wildlife management may become more important, too.
Cardona and Racicot said integrators and growers must design barns with biosecurity in mind and should continue to consider the placement of poultry operations in proximity to one another. Placing farms too close to a hatchery, feed mill, processing plant or other poultry operation poses a risk for the entire industry.
12 poultry farm biosecurity principles you should know WATTAgNet.com/articles/27885-poultry-farm-biosecurity-principles-you-should-know
