Abstract
The perception of the importance of animal health and its relationship with biosecurity has increased in recent years with the emergence and re-emergence of several diseases difficult to control. This is particularly evident in the case of pig farming as shown by the recent episodes of African swine fever or porcine epidemic diarrhoea. Moreover, a better biosecurity may help to improve productivity and may contribute to reducing the use of antibiotics. Biosecurity can be defined as the application of measures aimed to reduce the probability of the introduction (external biosecurity) and further spread of pathogens within the farm (internal biosecurity). Thus, the key idea is to avoid transmission, either between farms or within the farm. This implies knowledge of the epidemiology of the diseases to be avoided that is not always available, but since ways of transmission of pathogens are limited to a few, it is possible to implement effective actions even with some gaps in our knowledge on a given disease. For the effective design of a biosecurity program, veterinarians must know how diseases are transmitted, the risks and their importance, which mitigation measures are thought to be more effective and how to evaluate the biosecurity and its improvements. This review provides a source of information on external and internal biosecurity measures that reduce risks in swine production and the relationship between these measures and the epidemiology of the main diseases, as well as a description of some systems available for risk analysis and the assessment of biosecurity. Also, it reviews the factors affecting the successful application of a biosecurity plan in a pig farm.
Highlights
With the emergence and reemergence of difficult-to-control diseases such as African swine fever or porcine epidemic diarrhoea, the perception of the critical importance of pig health and its relationship with biosecurity has increased in recent years
Silva et al, (2018) [118], develop the biosecurity vulnerability scores for Porcine respiratory and reproductive syndrome (PRRS) the results suggest that events related transmission by air and water, and people/animals movements should be prioritized
Biosecurity has become an essential element of livestock production, in intensive systems such as in the pig industry
Summary
The prevention of infectious diseases in pigs is important for both animal welfare and economic productivity. With the emergence and reemergence of difficult-to-control diseases such as African swine fever or porcine epidemic diarrhoea, the perception of the critical importance of pig health and its relationship with biosecurity has increased in recent years. The origin of the biosecurity concept in swine production From the decade of 1960, swine production shifted progressively from a system made of small family-owned farms towards a large-scale industry. This evolution made evident that the management of health and disease should be oriented in a new way [1]. In the 1980 decade, concepts such as “minimal disease” or “specific-pathogen free farms” began to be common and led to the modern concept of biosecurity [2, 3]
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