Abstract: Sleeping with the enemy: Maintaining ASF-free farms in affected areas

November 25, 2022 — 

Abstract: Sleeping with the enemy: Maintaining ASF-free farms in affected areas

African Swine Fever (ASF) continues to spread worldwide, with very limited eradication success in countries where the disease affects domestic pig populations. Various biosecurity tools exist to reduce the on-farm risk incursion of ASF and other diseases. However, their focus on overall biosecurity scores and benchmarking results in recommendations that are not always cost-effective. We propose to apply a risk analysis approach that actively involves farmers and farmworkers in identifying their weakest links in biosecurity and corresponding mitigation efforts. Furthermore, the approach's focus on describing and understanding pathways of introduction and/or spread specific to individual farms creates buy-in from producers for investing in biosecurity measures and improving compliance.

Groenendaal H, Costard S, Zagmutt FJ, Perez AM. Sleeping with the enemy: Maintaining ASF-free farms in affected areas. Front Vet Sci. 2022;9:935350. Published 2022 Sep 13. https://doi.org/10.3389/fvets.2022.935350