Prioritization of Managed Pork Supply Movements during a FMD Outbreak in the US.

In the event of a foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) outbreak in the United States, local, state, and federal authorities will implement a foreign animal disease emergency response plan restricting the pork supply chain movements and likely disrupting the continuity of the swine industry business. To minimize disruptions of the food supply while providing an effective response in an outbreak, it is necessary to have proactive measures in place to ensure minimal disease spread and maximum continuation of business. Therefore, it is critical to identify candidate movements for proactive risk assessments: those that are both most likely to contribute to disease spread and most necessary for business continuity. To do this, experts from production, harvest, retail, and allied pork industries assessed 30 common pork supply movements for risk of disease spread and industry criticality. The highest priority movements for conducting a risk assessment included the movement of weaned pigs originating from multiple sow farm sources to an off-site nursery or wean to finish facility, the movement of employees or commercial crews, the movement of vaccination crews, the movement of dedicated livestock hauling trucks, and the movement of commercial crews such as manure haulers and feed trucks onto, off, or between sites. These critical movements, along with several others identified in this study, will provide an initial guide for prioritization of risk management efforts and resources to be better prepared in the event of a FMD outbreak in the United States. By specifically and proactively targeting movements that experts agree are likely to spread the disease and are critical to the continuity of business operations, potentially catastrophic consequences in the event of an outbreak can be limited.

Meta-analysis of field studies on bovine tuberculosis skin tests in United States cattle herds.

Our objective was to summarize information on the diagnostic accuracy, in terms of test sensitivity (Se) and specificity (Sp), for bovine tuberculosis (bTb) tuberculin skin tests as currently used in the United States. Meta-analyses including Se and Sp estimates from field studies of bTb tuberculin tests conducted in North American cattle were conducted to provide a distribution of estimates and central tendency for Se and Sp of the caudal fold tuberculin (CFT) and serial interpretation of the CFT and comparative cervical tuberculin (CFT-CCT) tests. In total, 12 estimates for CFT and CFT-CCT test Se and Sp were identified from seven publications matching inclusion criteria. Estimates for CFT test Se ranged from 80.4% to 93.0% and CFT test Sp from 89.2% to 95.2%. Estimates for CFT-CCT test Se ranged from 74.4% to 88.4% and CFT-CCT test Sp ranged from 97.3% to 98.6%. These distributions of test Se and Sp are intended to provide a more realistic representation for U.S. bTb skin tests than previously reported. Estimation and discussion of herd-level CFT and CFT-CCT test parameters is also included. These results should be considered at the herd and individual animal level when evaluating results from tuberculin skin test results in North American cattle herds.