A recent report emphasized the importance of managing six key biosecurity points to control Infectious Bursal Disease (Gumboro disease) in poultry. Effective biosecurity measures are crucial for maintaining the health and productivity of poultry flocks.
1. How to create a clean area:
Around the farm, walls or wired fences separate external and internal farm areas, thus creating an epidemiological unit. This unit must be isolated and secured . The employees and visitors must take a shower and use farm-specific PPE (boots, overall, gloves, mask, hairnet) to work inside the farm. For IBDV, the higher risk of external contamination are hands, boots, and dust around any house entrance (e.g. gates at the house front for day-old chicks and litter placement and doors at both sides to access the equipment and control room). The area around the cooling pad area is also critical for dust accumulation . The equipment and control room of each house must be divided into 2 zones, each zone using its own pair of boots, identified with different colours (outer area and inner area).
2. How to avoid vectors entering the farm/house:
Rodents and insects (darkling beetles, flies) are considered a dynamic vector of IBDV, since they move around different farms & houses, are a potential reservoir of IBDV in the house in turnaround times.
3. Litter management:
1 gr. of used litter might contain up to 106 viruses. At clean-out, all dust resulting from litter removal must be cleaned up to greatly decrease viral challenge. Ideally, use conveyors tunnels made of plexiglass directed to trucks with a trailer cover. Be careful with the wind currents. The floor must be cleaned with automatic sweeper (if available) and manually . For dirt floor, quicklime powder from the previous cycle would help while cleaning up litter residues.
4: Cleaning and disinfection protocols (all surfaces, including minor equipment):
The objective of a cleaning compound is to reduce the amount of biofilm on the surface. Acid cleaners are used against mineral materials and enzymatic cleaners against organic material; however, basic cleaners are most effectively sprayed with a foam-gun . After 30 minutes of contact time, the contact surfaces must be rinsed with high pressure water.
5: Floor disinfection (e.g. house 1000 m²)
A sodium hydroxide solution (100 kg. / 500 L. water) can be applied on the floor, expecting a 2-15 mm. of penetration within the material. After 6 hours, apply 250 kg. of quicklime powder (doubling the dose for earthen floor) and spray water for activation (200-600 L.)
6. Litter placement (or slat positioning).
The litter (with good quality raw material: no dust) reduces the risk of contact between the DOC’s and the floor (considered the major virus reservoir). A thickness of 10 cm. of litter is recommended for good protection, liquid retention, and to avoid fermentation. Litter turning could be dangerous because the virus might then be exposed to the surface and come in close contact with the birds.
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