Farmscape for January 29, 2018

As part of research being conducted on behalf of Swine Innovation Porc, scientists are working to improve the effectiveness of washing and disinfecting swine transport vehicles to reduce the potential for spreading swine disease.
Scientists with VIDO-InterVac examined the effectiveness of thermal assisted truck washing facilities, focusing strictly on temperature.
Dr. Volker Gerdts, the Associate Director Research with VIDO-InterVac, says scientists looked at six of the most prevalent pathogens, including both bacteria and viruses, that exist in the field.

Clip-Dr. Volker Gerdts-VIDO-InterVac:
Currently the industry standard is to bake these trailers at 70 degrees and that actually takes care of most pathogens however our research found that the PED virus is, in certain situations more resistant to the heat.
We were actually able to show that in the lab, the virus can survive even higher temperatures that 70 degrees.
We found that you needed to at least use 75 degrees for 15 minutes or one minute at 80 degrees to completely inactivate it.
We then had a phase two where we looked at field type of conditions.
There we also looked at the impact of organic matter and we found that organic matter very well insulates and so if you had a larger clump of dry fecal matter on your truck that you weren't able to clean you may find that in the centre of this fist size manure ball the temperature may never get to even 60 to 70 degrees and so that is very concerning when you're talking about inactivating important viruses like the PED.

Dr. Gerdts says baking does not reduce the need for a thorough washing, good air flow is needed to ensure the correct temperatures are achieved throughout the trailer and the use of soaps and disinfectants will eliminate the biofilms that that can build up on surfaces.
For Farmscape.Ca, I'm Bruce Cochrane.

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