Maximising the Chances of Success for PRRSV Area-Regional Control and Elimination Programmes: A 5-Step Process in Practice

Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) causes substantial economic losses to the worldwide swine industry and effective long-term control measures are greatly needed. Strategies exist for controlling PRRSV in individual herds, but these can be expensive due to losses of production time, and are frequently undermined by inadequate biosecurity practices and reinfection from surrounding areas. Regional initiatives, involving cooperation between owners of multiple farms, have been shown to achieve long-term PRRSV control and are more likely to result in sustained elimination that is difficult to achieve in individual farms. One year ago the authors published results from an area regional control project, in which PRRSV was eliminated from 12 Danish swine herds in just over 18 months. Underlying this initiative was a novel, 5-step process that provided a robust framework for cooperation between participants and helped contribute to the project’s success. This paper describes the 5 step process in detail using examples from the Danish elimination study, discusses its usefulness for future area regional control projects and explains how it can be adapted to meet the needs of diverse swine production systems.