Are You a Vector? by Jodi Sterle, Ph.D. Associate Professor and Extension Swine Specialist

CEAs have contact with a lot of show animals throughout the year.  Buying trips, validation, project visits and shows are all opportunities to interact with breeders, youth exhibitors, and parents, but are also risky situations for transmitting diseases.  Taking some simple precautionary steps may help you from becoming a vector (a person or object that transmits disease to others) and protect the investment both you and your 4-Hers have made.

• Call ahead.  Whether it is a project visit or a trip to a producer’s farm to purchase pigs, it is important to set up a time for the visit.  Be honest and tell the owner where else you may be going that day.
• Disposable boots are a must.  Keep a box of plastic disposable boots in your truck and slip them on when you get out of your truck at the farm.  Dispose of the boots on site if you can.
• Wash hands thoroughly in between farms.  Soap counts!
• If you have pigs at home, change clothes and shower before you go to your barn.
• If you are doing a project visit and notice sick pigs, call it a day.  After you finish helping that exhibitor with their pigs’ health problem, whether it is a respiratory disease or diarrhea, you need to change clothes and shower before seeing other projects.  A day or two downtime in between visits will also help.  
• If you are not feeling well, do not visit projects.  As we have seen this year with the novel H1N1 virus, several diseases can be passed from humans to pigs.  Take care of yourself and conduct the visit when you are feeling better.