- 10 minutes
- Expertise article | AASV 2011
- B. Miller, C. Schelkopf, C. Pollard, B. Payne. AASV. 2011
The consequences of a PRRS infection for this farm go beyond the standard implications.
Article by:
B. Miller, C. Schelkopf, C. Pollard, B. Payne. AASV. 2011
Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS) costs the swine industry approximately $560 million annually. Risk of re-infection is high in pig dense areas regardless of traditional external biosecurity and therefore the concept of area regional control (ARC) has come to the forefront. In early 2010 an ARC project was started in Northern Illinois. Within this defined region, there was a 1200-sow farrow-to-finish operation infected with both PRRS-NA and PRRS-EU strains. Along with the dual strain infection, this case was further complicated due to production flow: farrow-to-finish and internal multiplication. A comprehensive control strategy including flow modification, increased biosecurity, and the use of modified live vaccine (MLV) in order to produce an immune population was implemented in order to first control and then eliminate the virus from the farm.