Often the quarantine facility is located within 100 m of the breeding facility. This increases contamination risk as some viruses and diseases can spread further, such as PRRS virus which can be transmitted over 9.2 km in the air. Filters in the air inlet are effective at preventing PRRS virus spread and could be used at the exhaust fan if they did not get clogged up so quickly by the dust. A new biocontainment concept involving filtering the air at the exhaust fans and the air inlet to contain the contaminated air with an ionization system was studied. Its purpose was to reduce dust concentrations in the building, which in turn reduces the rate of clogging of the filters. Dust was reduced by 64% with the ionization system and bacteria was reduced by 83%. It needs to be tested further under summer conditions. By reducing virus rates in the herd, this option can save thousands of dollars.
Novel Biocontainment Concept for Quarantine Facilities (full article)
