Two feed mills and three breed-to-wean facilities were diagnosed with porcine deltacoronavirus (PDCoV) at Kansas State University. Research funded by the Swine Health Information Center (SHIC) and conducted at K-State investigated the mills and facilities for possible connections related to the outbreak.
The initial suspicion was that feed manufacture and delivery processes were involved in disease transmission, according to a SHIC report. Researchers aimed to determine if the feed mill was the origin of disease and then evaluate if trucks or people, either coming from the infected farms or coming from the feed mills, served as vectors to spread this virus.
Both feed mills were then audited and environmental samples were collected in areas that were deemed high risk for virus contamination. All breed-to-wean facilities had PDCoV detected as would be expected, while the only positive samples for enteric coronaviruses associated with feed mills were feed delivery trucks, the report says.
Because diagnostic investigation did not find evidence within the feed supply chain indicating feed or feed delivery was associated with outbreaks of PDCoV and due to the nature of timing, researchers believe the contamination identified at the infected sites was due to the intentional exposure through controlled oral exposure.
Research was unable to confirm the specific mechanism of transmission to the farms, although other routes must be considered, SHIC reports, such as personnel and other possible fomites such as incoming supplies. The investigation’s goal was to evaluate the likelihood of a link between feed manufacturing and delivery with the outbreak of clinical disease, so greater investigation into potential routes of entry were not explored.
“This investigation highlights the importance of biosecurity during controlled oral exposure because viral contamination can be detected outside of the farm perimeter and common events such as feed delivery may serve as a mechanism for transfer of viral contamination back to the feed mill or to other farms. The current investigation emphasizes the importance of biosecurity in the feed supply chain at both the feed manufacturing and delivery stages, with particular focus needing to be directed towards personnel movement,” SHIC reports.
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