In order to protect your herds and pig farms against African swine fever (ASF), preventing new pathogens from entering the field is the most critical task. In the second article of this series, veterinarians John Carr and Mark Howells discussed in detail the vehicle that brought the pathogen to the third largest source of farms.
Think back to your farm and what measures you have taken to ensure that the vehicle does not pose a threat to your farm. Have you checked the vehicles on the spot, especially the trucks that transported the pigs, and whether the vehicles in your field are clean?
Many biosafety systems can detect whether or not the vehicle is carrying pathogens through coating and kits. However, most vehicles do not look clean and do not need laboratory tests to know that the vehicle was contaminated by pathogens.
Biosafety of vehicles
Who is responsible for conducting biosafety checks on incoming vehicles? Do you have a simple report to ensure the completeness of the test? The following table shows a simple report to ensure thorough cleaning of the truck. You can print it out or design it yourself. However, in actual use, such statements must require the executor's signature, and the employees must take responsibility.
When checking a vehicle, the animal loading area is generally inspected and most of it is already cleaned. In addition, other places should also be checked against the list and carefully checked around the vehicle.
Cleaning of the vehicle's exterior
Car tailgate
Go to the tailgate of the vehicle to observe the degree of cleanliness. You will be disappointed to find that the tailgate is usually poorly cleaned. There will be faeces or litter stuck to the door or behind the car, especially above the taillights.
2. Vehicle side
Look around the vehicle to see if there is any organic residue. In Figure 3, there is even blood in the cab door. It is not important who the blood is. Unfortunately, it is not washed out.
Wheel cover
Washing qualified wheel covers should be clean and free of mud, no snow residue. It should be noted that in the cold season, the snow in the wheel house can carry the pathogen for several hundred kilometers.
What equipment should be used to clean the vehicle? First check the equipment for cleaning. Note that you cannot disinfect with dirty equipment. Most disinfectants will fail due to the presence of organic materials such as feces and blood. You can't use a dirty brush to wash the vehicle, which can also spread the pathogen.
4. Personal hygiene of driver's cab and driver
Ignoring the cab while checking the vehicle is a common mistake. Although this is a private space, the African swine fever virus will not let go. The inspection process must include an inspection of the cab, whether or not this personal space is clean and orderly, and there are no pork-based foods, which may pose the risk of African swine fever.
If the cab, driver's clothes and boots are dirty, other parts of the vehicle may not be clean. If the driver’s boots are dirty, he would spread pathogens from such a farm to another farm with such dirty boots.
You should also ask the driver if he owns a pig. Ideal drivers should not raise pigs or work part-time on pig farms, slaughterhouses, and animal markets.
5. Car storage box
Drivers often store some spare parts in the storage compartment of the belly, including cleaning supplies, boots, clothing and ropes, but are they clean? This area is often completely ignored when the vehicle is inspected. Maybe some cleaning unions protested that animals could not reach this area so there is no need to clean it. But our goal is to clean the car and do our work thoroughly.
6. Animal loading area
Because this area is the most obvious, the area is usually checked last. The degree of cleanliness in other areas can reflect the diligence of drivers and cleaners. If the exterior surfaces of the car, the cab and the storage box are clean and well maintained, then the animal loading area will generally be better.
Ideally, the process of cleaning the vehicle by the driver or cleaner should also be supervised. Biosafety also includes the health and safety of employees. Dangerous chemicals are used in the cleaning process, and high-pressure spray gun flushing can easily cause splashing of dirt into the eyes, which may cause injury.
Carefully inspect all baffles and do not skip any part of them because of height, darkness, or claustrophobia. Think of more to see where it is difficult to find and clean. You can use a mirror and a flashlight to inspect the crevices. The camera with a long lever is also a good tool to find out which areas are still covered with faeces and need to be cleaned. At the same time, taking a photo can also help to reduce the inspection process. Clean debate. It needs to be reminded that the pig has a long tongue and a sensitive nose to dig out the remaining dirt.
How long does it take to clear the vehicle after cleaning? Note that this is not the same as vehicle outage time. There is no difference between a dirty truck being out of service for 3 days and outage 0 days. The main cleaning procedures for vehicles include cleaning, drying, and vacant parking.
Are heating measures used to increase temperature (drying) during the vehicle cleaning process? This measure is particularly useful in the control of Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome (PRRS) virus.
Cleaning agents, disinfectants and other chemicals needed for the cleaning process
Check the chemicals used when cleaning the vehicle to ensure that they eliminate the African swine fever virus at the correct concentration. Raise the front of the vehicle properly to allow the baffle in the animal loading area to drain easily.
Provide rules for driving clean vehicles on farms, driveways and loading areas
Farms need to provide drivers with clear instructions to make it easy for the driver to understand where to park and where to drive, preferably outside the fence on the farm (outside the yard) so that the vehicle can reach the loading area cleanly and safely. Have you established a SOP (Standard Operating Procedures) to guide this process? Have these procedures been implemented? Have these procedures been displayed, or have they only been compiled into a book and placed in the office for inspection?
to sum up
Vehicle cleaning is not easy, but it is necessary to control and prevent the introduction of African swine fever virus into the farm.
If you are a driver, make sure you do your job well. To a large extent, only relying on you can clean up the stains left on the pigs last time, especially feces.
If you are an inspector, you can clean the vehicle yourself, know how hard it is to clean it, and how long it will take. This is a good way to find those that are difficult to clean.
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