Purdue Researchers Design New African Swine Fever Risk Assessment Tool
Due to the recent outbreak of African swine fever (ASF) in the Dominican Republic, Purdue University researchers have developed an online tool to help farmers prevent the deadly disease of pigs that has no cure at this time.
“African swine fever infections can lead to 100% mortality on a pig farm and there is no treatment,” Paul Ebner, professor of animal sciences at Purdue University, who developed the risk assessment and educational tools, said in a release. “This was the first time it had been detected in the Americas in decades.”
Ebner partnered with veterinarians in the Dominican Republic to create a new tool, BioPorc-RD, for farmers to conduct self-assessments of the risk of ASF coming to their farms. The assessment takes a user through different biosecurity practices and awards points based on whether the farmer does the practice and the efficacy of the practice in preventing ASF, the release said.
“Importantly, at each step, BioPorc-RD explains why the practice is important and how to do the practice,” Ebner said in a release. “We want to help pig farmers understand the reasoning behind each of the biosecurity practices and how to implement them at their own farm. Some of the changes needed do cost money, but it is cheaper than losing your pig population. Biosecurity is an investment to protect your farm and income.”purdue unviersity
Silvia Tortosa, lead veterinarian on the project and co-creator of BioPorc-RD, shared the tool with pork producers in the Dominican Republic. The online assessment does not collect any personal data and is tailored to the needs of farmers within the country, she said.
“The response has been very positive from the farmers and the government, which wants to create comprehensive biosecurity plans for producers,” Tortosa, an SPS and animal health specialist with the Executive Service Corp, said in a release. “Despite the fact that ASF was present in the Dominican Republic in 1978 and they had to slaughter the whole swine population, they had not put many measures in place to be prepared for anything like this happening again.”
Daniel Rivas, a swine veterinarian working in the Dominican Republic, uses BioPorc-RD. He said it is very useful since it focuses on key ways to prevent ASF entry into the farm.
“It makes us aware of how vulnerable we can be if we do not take the appropriate measures," Rivas said in a release.
Ebner and Tortosa are part of the USDA-funded and IESC implemented Trade Safe (TraSa) project in the Dominican Republic. However, the assessment and educational tool wasn’t originally part of the project plan, but when ASF was detected, Ebner and Tortosa redirected the efforts to the new challenge.
“We thought this could make a difference,” Ebner said in a release. “Things like making sure that visitors have not been on other pig farms, quarantining new pigs, and making sure feed is ASF-free to the extent possible can significantly mitigate the risk of ASF coming to your farm. We wanted to get research-based information to the producers as quickly as we could.”
Read More:
Close All the Windows to Keep ASF Out
ASF in the Western Hemisphere: What’s Different 40 Years Later?
It's Time to Batten Down the Hatches, Pork Industry Experts Say
Learn more about what the industry is doing to prevent ASF from entering the country.
