November 7, 2019

 

 

The geospatial mapping programme can inform producers of outbreaks and strategise control approaches, reported the University of Pennsylvania.

 

Operated by Dr. Meghann Pierdon of the University of Pennsylvania's School of Veterinary Medicine (Penn Vet), the geospatial information systems (GIS) programme uploads the data to a secure website. The website provides information on where poultry and swine have been tested positive for diseases in near real-time and identify possible at-risk areas in the vicinity.

 

This GIS database is updated on a quarterly basis, so producers have up to date accurate information.

 

Producers play a part as well. For swine, a vet or producer will enter data such as the farm's address, where the swine were procured and where they will be transported. For poultry, the data comes predominantly through the lab system, where Pierdon can view a flock identifier and farm address.

 

In 2012, Penn Vet's swine disease mapping program, operated by Pierdon and called the Pennsylvania Regional Control Program (PRCP) found a quarter of the swine monitored tested positive for disease. Now, that number has declined to 15% in Pennsylvania, or 17% of Indiana and Ohio included.

 

PRCP is funded by the Pennsylvania Pork Producers Council.

 

The success of PRCP has led to doubled industry inclusion, comprising 100 farmers, haulers, feed and genetics companies and veterinarian members.

 

Using the data, farmers can make more informed decisions to stop disease spread. Pierdon said producers can be wary of purchasing feeders from infected areas or prevent feed trucks that have travelled through an infected area from delivering to their farm.

 

GIS data is drawn mostly from Pennsylvania, but now incorporates information from nearby Maryland, New Jersey and Delaware as disease spread doesn't stop at state borders.

 

Initially, PRCP was used to track Porcine Respiratory and Reproductive Syndrome (PRRS). Today, Pierdon is actively tracking the Porcine Epidemic Diarrhoea virus (PED), an emerging pathogen.

 

Recently, GIS mapping was important in protecting poultry farms in Pennsylvania from the Coryza outbreak. Coryza is a poultry bacterial contagious disease that presents a secretion of mucus deposits in the birds' mouth and throat. Pierdon said the first cases were reported in December 2018 and has slowed this summer, although she has observed a rise in Coryza cases lately.

 

There has been interest in implanting the GIS programme to protect other agricultural industries such as honeybees and aquaculture.

 

- University of Pennsylvania