BVD eradication in Switzerland - a new approach

Presi, P.; Heim, D. (2010). BVD eradication in Switzerland - a new approach. Veterinary microbiology, 142(1-2), pp. 137-42. Amsterdam: Elsevier 10.1016/j.vetmic.2009.09.054

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Diverse concepts for BVD eradication or control have been applied in several countries with varying success. Results of previous studies conducted in Switzerland have shown that the prevalence of antibody-positive animals is high and that BVDV is widespread in the country causing serious economic losses. A new approach to eradicate BVD in the cattle population in Switzerland was chosen. It consists in testing the whole Swiss cattle population for virus detection in a short period of time, without initial antibody screening. Identified persistently infected (PI) animals have to be slaughtered, and new herd infections should be avoided by movement restrictions. Ear-notches are collected using special tags for labeling the animals, and are analyzed using ELISA or rtRT-PCR methods. Confirmatory tests if needed are performed on blood samples using rtRT-PCR. The eradication program is divided into four phases: (1) Pre-pasturing phase: all young bovines going to transhumance in summer have to be negative tested before. (2) Initial phase: all non-tested bovines have to be tested. Movement restrictions are effective at the same time. (3) Calves phase: all newborn calves have to be tested. (4) Surveillance phase: several strategies will be compared using a modeling approach. After the pre-pasture phase already 595,230 animals (37% of the livestock) have been tested within four months. A prevalence of 1.1% of PIs was observed. The average age of infected animals is 403 days compared to 794 days for non-infected animals, with the oldest PI-animal being over 11 years old. On average PI-animals are slaughtered within 18 days after the last positive result. The pre-pasture phase has shown that sampling and testing a high number of animals in a short time is challenging but possible. The next phase will deal with double the number of animals in a similar time frame. The coordination between all partners as well as the collaboration of farmers is the key factor for ensuring the success of the program.

Item Type:	Journal Article (Original Article)
Division/Institute:	05 Veterinary Medicine > Department of Clinical Research and Veterinary Public Health (DCR-VPH) > Veterinary Public Health Institute
UniBE Contributor:	Presi, Patrick
ISSN:	0378-1135
Publisher:	Elsevier
Language:	English
Submitter:	Factscience Import
Date Deposited:	04 Oct 2013 14:36
Last Modified:	05 Dec 2022 14:11
Publisher DOI:	10.1016/j.vetmic.2009.09.054
Web of Science ID:	000276800800020
URI:	https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/14389 (FactScience: 221356)