Technologies monitoring and improving biosecurity compliance in barn anterooms

Abstract

People can act as mechanical vectors, and introduce and spread infectious diseases on farms. Preventive measures, such as changing boots and washing hands, need systematic implementation to manage this risk. Unfortunately, biosecurity compliance regarding biosecurity measures in barn anterooms has been shown to be generally low in all animal production systems. Indeed, the main challenge with biosecurity is maintaining compliance. The development of an effective on-farm biosecurity program requires several elements. These include farm and barn designs facilitating implementation of biosecurity measures; consistently communicating with all personnel and visitors informing them about threats and biosecurity; training programs for all farm personnel, explaining why biosecurity is effective in preventing infectious disease transmission, which measures are needed, and how to best implement them. All these components would be further optimized if automated monitoring systems were implemented with feedback mechanisms. Technologies are now available and are being adapted to the farm context to monitor biosecurity compliance. Two pilot projects using radio-frequency-identification-based (RFID) real-time continuous automated monitoring system quantifying hand sanitizing and boot compliance were conducted. The first one (MediHand Trace system) was a system designed to monitor and provide real-time feedback for handwashing in a hospital environment. It was functional for this task, although not sturdy enough for long-term use in a farm environment. The second system was a prototype designed for barns and with foot mats allowing the monitoring of footwear management as well as handwashing. These pilot studies have shown that real-time feedback helps improve compliance. However, the efficacy of the systems was very dependent on the physical set-up of the anteroom.