Biosecurity and Hygiene Procedures in Pig Farms: Effects of a Tailor-Made Approach as Monitored by Environmental Samples

Abstract

In livestock, the importance of hygiene management is gaining importance within the context of biosecurity. The aim of this study was to monitor the implementation of biosecurity and hygiene procedures in 20 swine herds over a 12-month period, as driven by tailor-made plans, including training on-farm. The measure of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) environmental contents was used as an output biomarker. The presence of livestock-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (LA-MRSA) and extended-spectrum β-lactamase producing Escherichia coli (ESBL-E. coli) was also investigated as sentinels of antibiotic resistance. A significant biosecurity improvement (p = 0.006) and a reduction in the ATP content in the sanitised environment (p = 0.039) were observed. A cluster including 6/20 farms greatly improved both biosecurity and ATP contents, while the remaining 14/20 farms ameliorated them only slightly. Even if the ESBL-E. coli prevalence (30.0%) after the hygiene procedures significantly decreased, the prevalence of LA-MRSA (22.5%) was unaffected. Despite the promising results supporting the adoption of tailor-made biosecurity plans and the measure of environmental ATP as an output biomarker, the high LA-MRSA prevalence still detected at the end of the study underlines the importance of improving even more biosecurity and farm hygiene in a one-health approach aimed to preserve also the pig workers health.