Incubation 2017 - Biosecurity - The Human Risk JCormick

Presentation given at Incubation 2017

For those of you who have previously seen my presentations you will know I use mainly video & graphics but don’t use very much text, which is great for watching the presentation but not so great if you just see it as a PDF, I’d go further and say the PDF of this presentation would be useless. To this end I wanted to try something new and something that hopefully will give you something to help you educate your staff at the same time which can be found here...

The Human Risk - JCormick

The abstract is also below.

Let me know if you find this useful or not as this will determine if I do something similar in the future

Cheers All

Jason

Abstract

All poultry operations are under a constant threat from the ever-present enemy of disease and infection. It is imperative in all operations we teach our staff how to reduce potential risks as far as possible.

One of the greatest risks to any Poultry Operation is the risk of contamination of Disease. This is not only depletes production but can also damage the reputation of the company.

The transmission of disease can be spread in 2 ways. Firstly disease can be spread vertically which means bacteria such as Salmonella, Mycoplasma, Avian Influenza etc. is spread already in the oviduct of the hen laying the egg. This means that the developing embryo will already be infected during development.

The second type of infection is through horizontal transmission which can be from bacteria spread by a vector which could be anything from airborne dust particles, animals frequenting livestock (beetles, rats, birds etc.), equipment that moves from infected stock to clean stock or the action of people transmitting disease to your stock. It is this ‘Human Risk’ we will cover in this module.

Mycoplasma is one of the main culprits of infections, it is a bacteria that can be transmitted both vertically and horizontally which is able to survive for up to 4 days off its natural host means it has huge potential to jump from one location to another. A thorough showering in regime and change of clothing should greatly reduce the risk from mycoplasma being brought in by personnel.

Salmonella is another prime issue in poultry, this can also be spread both vertically and horizontally but can also easily infect people. Breeding stock operations should have routine testing of staff and visitors.

One of the biggest threats today to our operations comes from Avian Influenza which has managed to spread across the world. There are many strains of Avian Influenza but these are generally split into two main categories- Low Pathogenic and High Pathogenic. Low Pathogenic strains can result in low impact on stock however strains of H5 and H7 have the potential to mutate from Low Pathogenic to High Pathogenic which can wipe houses and can also infect other species including humans coming into contact with it. Avian Influenza can also be transmitted both vertically and horizontally.

 These are just 3 potential risks but there are many others too numerous to go into during this discussion.

 There are some basic rules that all poultry workers should adhere to.

Poultry Workers should…

…not own or keep any Avian species

…not come into contact with backyard chickens

…avoid live/wet markets

…not have second jobs that involve avian species

…be discouraged from wild bird hunting

 All employees of a poultry operation should have an understanding of bio-security as it is not only production workers that could be vectors for disease entering an operation.

 Likewise any visitors are potential risks to the operation. When it comes external visitors the golden rule is if they do not need to be there they should be kept out. Visitors should be vetted prior to entering the site. On entering the site visitors should fill in a visitors record explaining why they are there, date of their last contact with poultry and where and a good health declaration. Visitors should also have explained biosecurity regulations and understand where they can and cannot go as well as sign to say they will adhere to the rules.

 On entering an operation all visitors should shower in to eliminate the risk of bringing in bacteria. Equipment can also be sterilised with UV chambers or disinfectant sprays.

 Once inside good hygiene must be adhered to washing hands after eating or going to the toilet for example. Use of hand sanitisers around the operation is also good practice.

 In the hatchery it is also advantageous to keep staff to either egg side ‘clean’ or chick side ‘dirty’ this is to avoid chick fluff cross contaminating other ‘clean’ areas. This can be helped by giving each area a designated colour of clothing, for example Blue for Egg Side and White for Chicks Side.

 One of the continuous vectors of transmission comes from the soles of shoes worn outside and worn into an operation. The most effective way to eliminate this risk is with physical barriers and a complete change of footwear commonly referred to a ‘boot barriers’.

 Keeping disease out from livestock operations will always be a great challenge and one that can only be achieved with cooperation of all involved. It is imperative we all keep vigilante and report any non-compliances to safe guard our operations and ensure continuous supply to our clients.