Aerial mapping: Adding to the swine industry's toolbox for area regional disease control

摘要

Area regional disease control (ARDC) strategies are an important tool in the swine industry due to the ability of many swine diseases, most notably PRRS, to spread by methods other than direct animal contact. Examples include animal carriers and aerosol transmission. Spatial relationships of swine facilities are important to the external biosecurity of these sites (Davies 2005,1 Pitkin 20072). It is for this reason that AASV's Production Animal Disease Risk Assessment Program (PADRAP) includes detailed questions regarding the proximity of nearby swine facilities. As part of an ARDC program and PADRAP, the location of all swine facilities in three adjacent counties (A, B, and C) in western Illinois was surveyed and mapped. Initially, the traditionalmethod of systematically driving the roads utilizing county maps was used. During this process, limitations to the technique were identified and an alternate strategy (aerial surveillance) was completed and executed.