A National Plan for Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome virus (PRRSv) Elimination - Dr. Montserrat Torremorell, from the 2016 Allen D. Leman Swine Conference, September 17-20, 2016, St. Paul, Minnesota, USA. More presentations at http://www.swinecast.com/2016-leman-swine-conference-material

1. A National Plan for PRRS
Elimination?
Montse Torremorell, Lisa Becton, Harry Snelson
AASV PRRS Task Force
September 19, 2016

2. Outline
• Background
• Intend of the PRRS elimination
framework document
• Main points of the document
• Process
• Discussion

3. AASV PRRS Task Force
Mission:
• Diagnostics – Identify, evaluate and describe the use of PRRS diagnostic techniques
that can be used in the treatment, control, prevention and elimination of PRRS.
• Research - Identify, evaluate and summarize PRRS research that can be used to
support the rationale behind the use of the PRRS treatment, control, prevention and
elimination "tools".
• Research – Identify, from a field perspective, the information gaps and research
priorities.
• Interventions – Identify and evaluate intervention "tools" that can be used in the
treatment, control, prevention and elimination of PRRS.
• Cooperation – Encourage the development of regional PRRS Task Forces which will be
comprised of producers, veterinarians, and industry partners.
• Communication – Provide for communication of PRRS related information to all North
American AASV members, state / provincial / regional task forces, and cooperating
North American producer groups and industry partners. •Montse Torremorell Chair
•Laura Batista
•Lisa Becton
•George Charbonneau
•Neil DeBuse
•Scott Dee
•Joseph Fent
•Tom Gillespie
•Derald Holtkamp
•Mike Mohr
•Bob Morrison
•David Pyburn
•Max Rodibaugh
•Leigh Rosengren
•Kurt Rossow
•Alan Snodgrass
•Mark Wagner
•Paul Yeske

4. Background
• The AASV, the NPB and the NPPC
have all passed resolutions to work
towards the development of a national
PRRS elimination plan

5. AASV Position Statement: PRRS Elimination
Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS) is a significant
production-limiting disease of swine that is estimated to cost the North
American swine industry in excess of 664 million dollars per year. Control of
the disease via traditional methods has not been effective in all cases;
therefore, it is the position of the AASV that elimination of the PRRS virus
from the North American swine industry is the long-term goal. The AASV will
take a leadership role by partnering with the swine industry to promote
collaborative PRRS virus elimination efforts at the local, regional, and
national levels; communicating the need and identifying sources of funding
to support such initiatives; and assisting in the transfer of new PRRS-related
information and technology across its membership, in order to achieve this
goal.
Approved by the AASV Board of Directors on October 11, 2011

6. During the 2011 Pork Forum, a National Pork Board
advisement was presented to the delegates and
passed that states: That the National Pork Board
continue to be engaged in the PRRSV
elimination discussions that prioritize research
and education towards continued development
and application of tools and strategies with the
goal of elimination of the PRRSV virus.

7. Goal: Drive Sustainable Production – The National Pork Board will invest in research and producer education
programs that enhance the productivity and sustainability of pork production and deliver benefits to producers,
consumers and the community.
By 2020, the National Pork Board will develop, with key stakeholders, the identification and diagnostic tools,
surveillance and mitigation strategies for the potential elimination of the top domestic swine diseases.
By 2020, the National Pork Board will deploy tools and programs to decrease the annual economic impact
of PRRS by 20 percent, as adjusted for inflation and measured against the 2012 PRRS economic impact
baseline study.
By 2020, the National Pork Board will build the capacity to detect and prepare for foreign, non-regulatory swine
production diseases, to rapidly respond to non-regulatory and regulatory foreign animal diseases and to facilitate
pork producer business continuity.
By 2020, the National Pork Board will expand participation in the worker safety benchmarking database from 27
percent to 50 percent of industry, with a long-term objective of reducing employee animal-handling injury rates by
15 percent.
Demonstrating a commitment to improving professionalism (doing the right things for the workforce and the
animals workers care for), the National Pork Board will develop and deploy education and training resources that
are utilized by 25 percent of the pork production industry and that serve as the basis of employee training and
development programs.
By 2020, the National Pork Board will provide pork producers with research results, tools and information to
improve the productivity of the U.S. swine herd as measured by the following and based on 2015 Industry
Productivity Analysis: 10 percent decrease in pre-weaning and nursery mortality, 10 percent improvement in
caloric efficiency in grow/finish feed efficiency and Improvement in sow lifetime productivity from 38 pigs per sow
lifetime to 42 pigs per sow lifetime.
NPB Strategic Plan

8. Background
• AASV PRRS Task Force, December 2013
• “…expectation by producers that
veterinarians will lead the efforts to
develop a plan to eliminate PRRSV from
the national swine herd”…

9. Where to start?

10. • Objective:
– To develop a framework for a National
PRRS elimination program

11. • Expectation to deliver a document that
outlines the steps to guide PRRS elimination
efforts at the national level
– Identify current gaps, research needs, caveats
• This document is meant to be a first draft to
be used as base for discussions as the plan
is presented to a broader audience
representative of the swine industry as a
whole.

12. • “The National PRRSV elimination
framework” is conceived as a road map
to assist swine producers, allied
industry and regulators in the journey to
control and eliminate PRRSV from the
national swine herd.

13. Sub-committee
• Lisa Becton
• Dave Pyburn
• Bob Morrison
• David Reeves
• Larry Rueff
• Jim Lowe
• Derald Holtkamp
• Harry Snelson
• Leigh Rosengren
• Perry Harms
• Howard Hill
• Montse Torremorell
• Mark Engle
• James McKean

14. 1. Background and assumptions
• PRRSV continues to cause significant economic losses
• Producers have expressed clear strategic intent to limit the
impact of PRRS (resolutions)
• Emergence of novel strains continues (i.e 1-7-4)
• PRRSV impacts the welfare of the pigs (i.e secondary
infections and increase antibiotic usage)
• There are control strategies that work
• Although much is known about PRRSV transmission, there are
still unknowns in particular to between herd transmission
• Use of vaccines can assist to manage disease, but role in
National effort still unclear

15. Background and assumptions
• Program must be producer-led
• Framework recognizes the challenges with
preventing herd re-infections
• Additional tools and strategies may be required
before this plan can be implemented
• Knowledge will evolve and program plans will need
to be adjusted accordingly

16. 2. Program justification
• Economics – PRRS costs $$
• Emergence of novel strains continues and
threatens competitiveness and sustainability of
US swine industry
• Global competitiveness, not just PRRS
• Sustainable production, stronger industry
• Recognized need to elaborate a plan, and
infrastructure, to successfully eliminate PRRSV
from the swine industry

17. Framing of the program
– Producer led, voluntary
– National in scope
– Desire to minimize the impact of PRRSV and
eventual elimination
– Program based on stages – risk based program
• 1st reduction of local/system/regional spread,
• 2nd expand and coalesce regions,
• 3rd protect negative systems/areas/regions
– Plan requires trust, enhanced communication and
uses surveillance, implementable information and
proven methods to contain, control and eliminate
the virus

18. 3. Plan requirements
• Surveillance
• Animal movement
• Communication and organization of producer
committees
• Herd classification
• Risk management

19. Surveillance
• Program to:
– Assess incidence and prevalence
– Analysis of data for decision making
– Communication
– Short term producer value and long term program value
– Measure progress
• Swine Health Monitoring Program
• Needs:
– Widespread use of program (i.e companies, ARCE)
– Local coordinators leadership
– Use of Premises IDs
– Integration of data automatically (i.e Bioportal, AgConnect, VDLs, production
systems, etc)
– Analytical data capabilities
– Structured reporting system
– Monitoring of boar studs, breeding herds and commercial pigs
– Establish guidelines for monitoring and reporting

20. Animal Movement
• Very complex
• Constraints that dictate movements: packer
contracts, feed-mill, health status, cost, frequency
of movements, site size, vehicle availability, grower
contracts, unknown movements situations, ability
to respond rapidly to status change, truck wash
management, distance
• Animal movement is a major risk for PRRSV
introduction into regions
• Recognizes need for controlled movement at some
point in the program

21. • Gaps:
– Poor understanding of impact of animal movement
on incidence and presentation of PRRSV breaks
in particular in growing pigs
– Can vaccination help manage the risk of PRRS
infection via movement?
– Are PRRS breaks associated with animal
movement? When do PRRS breaks happen?
– Risk of show pigs to commercial pigs?
– How to contain infections identified after animal
movement?

22. Herd classification
• Critical to define a risk-based PRRSV elimination
plan
• AASV herd classification (Holtkamp et al., )
• Needs some modifications to include definitions in
line with stages proposed in plan (i.e vaccination)
• All herds should have a status and this be updated
regularly
• PRRS status of regions or states

23. Organization of Producers
• Producer leadership and engagement is central
• State-level swine health committees:
– State PRRSV Advisory Board (as part of the state swine health
committee or the state pork association)
– Function: local champions, collate local information, disseminate
information, regional road map, instigate new projects, increase
participation
– Lead, coordinate, guide efforts at the State level
• National PRRSV Advisory Board
– Coordinate, guide, set minimum standards at the National level
• Include also producers in low density areas (i.e through
extension veterinarians, or others groups)

24. 4. Program stages
• Envisioned with a bottom up approach with stages at the herd,
regional and state level that account for risks of PRRSV infection
• Allow for logical progression from infection/high risk to no
infection/low risk scenarios
• Definition on where the disease is present or absent nationally
• State and national roles and responsibilities recognized. Activities
coordinated eventually with State Health officials
• Regulatory program component at some point, but this will be
determined by progress of projects and local demands

25. • Stage 1 – Program initiation
– State Pork Association to start state level PRRSV
advisory board
– Producer/industry education program
– Identify % participating herds and their status (if
known)
– Enroll herds in program
– Initiate testing
– Identify risks at the state level (i.e point of collection,
slaughter plants, routes, etc)

26. • Stage 2 – Measures from stage 1 plus following:
– Monitoring
– All herds to have risk management plan in place
– Stabilization plans in place
– Consider desirability of movement controls into low
prevalence regions
– Develop state level biosecurity and intervention plan

27. • Stage 3:
– All sow herds on risk management and
stabilization plans with real time surveillance
including grow-finish sites
– Mandatory participation for control/elimination
– Category I pigs originating intrastate or intra-
region would be quarantined and enhanced
biocontainment procedures would need to be
in place

28. • Stage 4
– Surveillance
• Stage 5
– Free eligible after 12 months in stage 4

29. Feasibility
• Level of participation/commitment
• Cost of program
• Program incentives
• Industry buy-in

30. Needs going forward
• Premise ids
• Integration of data
• Automated data for pig movement
• Independent point of information for everybody
• Identification of key research/papers/strategies to
guide efforts
• Understand biocontainment strategies
• Others?

31. Limitations/Hurdles
• Social and economic pressures
• Wide use of premise IDs
• PRRSV vaccines
• Biocontainment of infections in grow-finish sites
• Pig movement
• Voluntary program
– < % of participation rates
– Program incentives
• Funding
• Unintended consequences

32. Distribution
• Solicit comments:
– AASV Board – Oct 2015 & March 2016
– AASV PRRS Task Force – March 2016
– NPB – Swine Health Committee – Under review

33. Comments
• What are we missing?
• Is this framework a step in the right
direction?
• Infrastructure needed?
• Alternative plans?

34. Acknowledgements
• AASV PRRS Task Force
– Sub-committee
• AASV Board of Directors
• NPB Leadership
• Lisa Becton
• Harry Snelson

35. Thank you for your attention!