Project Title: An assessment of 3 sanitation protocols for PRRSV-positive transport vehicles

Institution: University of Minnesota

Outcome/Results: Three sanitation protocols proved to be equally effective at eliminating infectious PRRSV from the inside of livestock trailers.
Transport of swine in today’s commercial production systems has become a major risk factor for the spread of PRRSV between farms. The purpose of this project was to determine whether contaminated trailers could serve as a source of PRRSV infection to naïve swine and to evaluate three methods for sanitizing PRRSV-contaminated livestock trailers. It was determine using naïve animals that the trailer could be a source of PRRSV infection. Regarding the sanitation protocols, the methods tested included disinfecting, the thermo-assisted-drying and decontamination (TADD) system and trailer baking. All three methods proved to be equally effective at eliminating infectious PRRSV from the trailer interior when utilizing trailer models. Based on these results, producers now have efficacious options for the sanitation of at-risk trailers.