Eligibility criteria: The eligibility criteria to enroll breeding herds into the project include: (a) breeding herd reporting PRRS outbreak, and working on a plan to control and/or eliminate the infection; (b) producer willing to share diagnostic results; (c) herd veterinarian committed to complete a short survey with information about the PRRS management plan following the outbreak, and revising the survey on a quarterly basis until herd achieved the desired status (i.e. stability); (d) share weekly production data for 52 weeks prior to the outbreak, and 52 weeks after the outbreak; (e) plan to monitor the affected herd by sampling over time, with either weekly processing fluids (1 bag/week) or tongue tips (1 bag of up to 100 samples per week); 10 family oral fluids/month or monthly suckling pig bleeding (n=30).

Exclusion criteria: The exclusion criteria of breeding herds include events that impact the outcomes, including outbreaks with other pathogens such as porcine epidemic diarrhea virus, or herd going through a significant change in sow inventory (± 20%).

Herd classification: The herd will be classified following AASV classification, positive unstable at high prevalence (I-A), positive unstable at low prevalence (II-B), positive stable (II), positive stable with vaccination (II-vx), provisional negative (III), and negative (IV).

PRRSV outbreak recovery metrics: Based on changes in diagnostic results over time, we will describe the success rate and the time to change in PRRSV status, the time to low stability (TTS). Moreover, the productivity data will be used to calculate time to baseline productivity (TTBP) and the severity of the PRRSV outbreak, the total loss (TL). The information collected in the survey will help explain variability in these three outcomes, TTS, TTBP, and TL.

Whole-genome Sequencing (WGS): The characterization of the PRRSV will be performed by using the method of next-generation sequencing (NGS). The whole genomic of the virus will be recovered using serum, lung, or LVI material from week 1-4 after the outbreak. Additional WGS may be required according to the aspects of the following outbreak. The NGS will allow us to characterize the virus or viruses from the outbreak and study potential variability and/or recombination.

Project deliverables: This project will produce quarterly summary reports with aggregated data. Reports will benchmark key survey aspects and practices being implemented in participating farms, and measures of association between such practices and the success rate and/or time to achieve stability (TTS). Moreover, we will investigate and report associations between key survey factors and diagnostic patterns on TTBP, and its impact on productivity (TL). About PRRSV genetic information, we will aggregate data and share information on the effect of viral diversity, the number of strains, and the rate of change on the success rate and TTS, TTBP, and TL-related metrics. Veterinarians and producers will benefit from the results of this study to make an evidence-based decision on PRRS management in sow farms.

Data handling and confidentiality statement: We assure you that all information captured for this study will be used exclusively for this study. Raw data from enrolled herds will be kept at a data-encrypted, secure server at Iowa State University. The FieldEPi team will handle the survey, diagnostic, and production data. The team will consolidate the database (diagnostics, production, survey, WGS) and conduct the analyzes and reports. The raw data will not be shared, and herd-level data will be anonymized and aggregated to preserve confidentiality before presenting at any conference or media.

Sponsorship: Upon the customer’s decision, the diagnostic data (PCRs and NGS) can be sponsored by Boehringer Ingelheim Animal Health® up to $700 per enrolled herd.

Voluntary participation: Your participation is voluntary, and you may withdraw at any time by letting us know of this decision. If you have any questions, concerns, or problems, please contact Chris Rademacher at cjrdvm@iastate.edu.

Questions? Please contact us at cjrdvm@iastate.edu, trevisan@iastate.edu or linhares@iastate.edu