Practical Applications for Managing Biological Risks

1
Practical Applications for Managing Biological
Risks

• Vector Transmission
• Dairy Producers

2
Biological Risk Management (BRM)

• Overall process of awareness education,
  evaluation, and management
• Designed to improve infection/disease control
• Foreign and domestic diseases
• Provide tools to minimize risk

3
Biological Risk Management (BRM)

• Disease risk cannot be totally eliminated
• Animal, its environment
• Decrease exposure
• Infectious agent interactions
• Minimize threat to animals and humans
• No one-size-fits-all answer

4
Routes of Transmission

• Spread of disease agents
• Animal animal
• Animal human
• Different modes of transmission

• Oral
• Vector-borne
• Zoonotic

• Aerosol
• Direct contact
• Fomite

5
Vector Transmission

• Insect
• Acquires pathogen from one animal
• Transmits to another animal
• Biological vectors
• Midges, ticks, mosquitoes
• Mechanical vectors
• Flies

6
Selected Diseases Spread by Vectors

• Foreign diseases
• Akabane
• Bluetongue
• Heartwater
• Lumpy skin disease
• Rift Valley fever

• Present in U.S.
• Anaplasmosis
• Anthrax
• Contagious mastitis
• Pink eye (Moraxella bovis)
• Vesicular stomatitis

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Routes of Transmission

• Apply to all infectious agents
• Animal must be exposed to develop disease
• Understand different routes of transmission
  Gain control
• Risk areas must be identified
• Design protocols to minimize exposure

8
Disease Transmission

• Animals may not exhibit obvious clinical signsof
  disease
• Awareness of all routes of transmission is
  essential
• Develop strategy to minimize disease risk for
  livestock operation

9
General Prevention Steps

• Overview
• Farm perimeter
• Animal identification
• Animal health
• Sick/dead animals
• Isolation/quarantine
• Supply handling
• Neonatal management

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General Prevention Steps

• Limit contact with animals
• Neighbors livestock
• Wildlife, birds
• Roaming cats, dogs
• Maintain fences
• Establish biosecurity protocols for delivery
  vehicles, personnel
• Lock gates

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General Prevention Steps

• Identify individual animals
• Important for
• Communicating health status
• Treatment needs
• Location on farm
• Record keeping

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General Prevention Steps

• Keep health records on every animal
• Review vaccination and treatment programs
• Annually, bi-annually
• Protocol versus actual
• Investigate unusual signs, unresponsive cases
• Neurologic, downers, sudden death

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General Prevention Steps

• Train farm personnel to report sick animals
• Inspect animals daily
• Clean equipment, boots, clothing
• Euthanize terminally ill animals promptly and
  appropriately
• Removed or rendered
• Perform necropsy on animals that died from
  unknown causes

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General Prevention Steps

• Isolate ill animals immediately
• No shared ventilation, direct contact with other
  animals
• Quarantine newly introduced animals
• New purchases, returning animals
• Time determined with veterinarian
• Test for key diseases before placing with rest of
  herd

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General Prevention Steps

• Store non-refrigeratedvaccines and antibiotics
  out of sunlight as it can deactivate them
• Monitor refrigeration temperature monthly
• Ideal temp 36-46oF
• Restrict access to medication to only properly
  trained personnel

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General Prevention Steps

• Ensure adequate ingestion of disease-free
  colostrum in first 6 hours of life
• Prevent contact with older animals, contaminated
  environments

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Vector Control
18
Vector Control

• Source reduction
• Flies, midges, mosquitoes
• Control adults
• Flies, mosquitoes
• Minimize animal interaction
• Ticks, midges
• Treatment protocols

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Source Reduction

• Flies
• 4 life stages
• Egg, larva, pupa, adult
• Cycle as short as 10 days in warm weather
• Lay eggs in organic matter
• Manure, feed, wet bedding
• Disturb weekly to prevent development
• Clean up spilled feed, feed bunks

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Source Reduction

• Fly larvicides
• Feed additives
• All animals on farm, 3 weeks prior to season
• Parasitic wasps feed on fly pupa
• Predatory mites, beetles feed on larva
• Adulticides
• Knockdowns for high concentrations
• Residuals for barn walls, ceilings
• Baits, fly traps in conjunction with other
  methods

21
Control Adult Flies

• Target key areas on farm
• Milking parlor, calf hutches
• Barns
• Animals

22
Disease Transmission

• Flies can spread
• Contagious mastitis
• Dermatophilus (rain rot)
• Grubs
• Lumpy skin disease
• Pink eye (Moraxella bovis)
• Screwworm

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Source Reduction

• Biting midges
• Lay eggs in decaying vegetation,wet soil, mud
• Larvae need moisture, organic matter
• Adults fly 1-2 milesfrom source
• Manage settling ponds, stagnant water

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Disease Transmission

• Biting midges can spread
• Bluetongue virus

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Source Reduction

• Mosquitoes
• Lay single eggs in damp soil
• Lay eggs on water surface
• Larvae, pupae live upside down in water
• Breathe via siphon, trumpet at water surface
• Larvae need organic matter for development

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Disease Transmission

• Mosquitoes can spread
• West Nile virus
• Rift Valley fever
• Lumpy skin disease
• Vesicular stomatitis

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Source Reduction

• Eliminate mosquito larval habitats
• Fill tree holes
• Empty containers that hold water weekly
• Circulate lagoons, water tanks
• Drill holes in or use half tires for silage
  piles

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Mosquito Larvicides

• Use when source reduction and biological control
  not feasible
• More effective and target-specific
• Less controversial than adulticides
• Applied to smaller geographic areas
• Larvae concentrate in specific locations

29
Control Adult Mosquitoes

• Insecticides/adulticides
• Less efficient than source reduction
• Require multiple applications
• Require proper environmental conditions
• Light wind, no rain
• Small droplets to contact adults

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Minimize Animal Interaction

• Ticks
• Mow pastures
• Acaricides
• Midges
• No effective animal treatment
• Increase distance from source
• Confine animals

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Disease Transmission

• Ticks can spread
• Anaplasmosis
• Babesiosis
• Dermatophilus (rain rot)
• Heartwater
• Q fever

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Summary

• Vector borne transmission occurs everyday on
  farms
• Mastitis, pink eye, anaplasmosis
• Foreign animal diseases can also be spread via
  vectors
• Rift Valley Fever, heartwater
• Prevention steps as described here can help
  minimize your risk

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Key Learning Objectives

• Biological risk management is important
• All diseases are transmitted by a few common
  routes
• Disease risk can be managed
• Awareness education is essential
• You play a critical role!

34
Questions?

• www.cfsph.iastate.edu/BRM
• brm_at_iastate.edu
• 515-294-7189
• CFSPH
• Iowa State University, College of Veterinary
  Medicine
• Ames, IA 50011

35
Acknowledgments

• Development of this presentationwas funded by a
  grant from the USDA Risk Management Agencyto the
  Center for Food Securityand Public Healthat
  Iowa State University.

36
Acknowledgments
Author Danelle Bickett-Weddle, DVM,
MPH Reviewer James Roth, DVM, PhD