Julie Ménard, Agr. DVM

Allen D. Leman Swine Conference

September 18, 2012

Dr Leman : A leader

His great qualities

Passion

Charisma

People person

Pro-Active

Cost sensitive

His grad students : His legacy!

• Sylvie D’Allaire

• Bob Morrison

• Monte McCaw

• Tim Blackwell

• Tom Stein

• Morgan Morrow

• Kirk Clark

• Jean-Pierre Vaillancourt

Livestock producers want and will continue

to want veterinary service

They want veterinarians to :

a) Be co-responsible for farm success or failure.

b) Help share the burden or worry.

c) Compare their farm with other similar farms.

d) Authenticate their farm decisions and judgments.

e) Increase farm profits by reducing costs and

increasing through-put.

Al Leman, 1988

Still an important strategy

for PRRS control

What would Dr Leman do…

for PRRS ?

My history with PRRS

Graduated in 1987

Start with F.Menard a swine

integrated company in Canada

1 million pigs marketed/year

Agricultural and swine dense area

Province of Quebec/Canada

Swine Dense Area

7 000 000 pigs / year

First PRRS

case : 1988

Since 25 years,

more than 500 cases

My dream :

to control PRRS

F. Ménard inc

Montréal

PRRS cost

• United states = 664 $ millions/yr

• Canada = 150 $ millions/yr

• Quebec = 40 $ millions/yr

Cost of PRRS

Maternity Nursery Finishers

Neuman 51.00 $ (2.35 $) 6.30 $ 8.40 $

Yeske 43.00 $ (1.98 $) 2.19 $ 8.75 $

Ont-Que 60.00 $ (2.76 $) --- ---

F.Menard 60.10 $ (2.77 $) 4.43 $ 7.19 $

Cost/sow = 322 $ Cost/pig = 15 $

C. Surprenant, 2010, Journée AQINAC

1140 sow herd sites in Quebec

# of site(s)

Distance km

500 1 3 5 10

0 100% 100% 100% 100% 100%

1 76% 84% 96% 99% 99%

2 16% 41% 83% 94% 98%

3 3% 17% 70% 89% 97%

4 1% 8% 60% 85% 96%

5 0% 3% 52% 81% 95%

6 0% 1% 46% 77% 94%

7 0% 0% 42% 74% 93%

8 0% 0% 38% 71% 92%

9 0% 0% 33% 69% 91%

10 0% 0% 28% 68% 90%

11 0% 0% 24% 67% 89%

Distance of sow herds to nursery

or grow-finish farms in Quebec

C. Klopfenstein 2008, CDPQ

Ange-Gardien sow farm = 2750 sows

The neighborhood

Ange-Gardiensow herd – 2 miles

18 pig barns

30 000 pigs

• Mostly finishing hogs

• Different ownerships

A slaughtering plant

• 2400 killing/day

A manure collection

pit

789

10111213141516171819202122232425262728293031

3 ja

n 0

4

28 f

ev 0

4

1 m

ai 0

4

3 ju

i 04

aou

04

30 o

ct 0

4

1 ja

n 0

5

26 f

ev 0

5

30 a

vr 0

5

2 ju

i 05

28 a

ou

05

29 o

ct 0

5

31 d

ec 0

5

25 f

ev 0

6

29 a

vr 0

6

1 ju

i 06

26 a

ou

06

oct

06

30 d

ec 0

6

24 f

ev 0

7

28 a

vr 0

7

30 ju

i 07

25 a

ou

07

27 o

ct 0

7

29 d

ec 0

7

23 f

ev 0

8

26 a

vr 0

8

28 ju

i 08

30 a

ou

08

25 o

ct 0

8

3 ja

n 0

9

28 f

ev 0

9

2 m

ai 0

9

4 ju

il 09

29 a

ou

09

31 o

ct 0

9

2 ja

n 1

0

27 f

év 1

0

1 m

ai 1

0

3 ju

i 10

28 a

ou

10

30 o

ct 1

0

1 ja

n 1

1

26 f

ev 1

1

30 a

vr 1

1

2 ju

il 11

27 a

ou

11

29 o

ct 1

1

31 d

ec 1

1

25 f

ev 1

2

28 a

vr 1

2

PIG

WEA

NED

/SO

W/Y

EAR

May 04 Nov 04 Oct 05 Jan 06 Sept 06 Sept 07

PRRSV STRAINS INTRODUCTION

Dec 08 Jun & Jul 09 Nov 10 Jan 12

28

18

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

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20

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/04

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4

13

/Dec

/04

13

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/05

13

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/05

13

/Mar

/05

13

/Ap

r/0

5

13

/May

/05

13

/Ju

n/0

5

13

/Ju

l/0

5

13

/Au

g/0

5

13

/Sep

/05

13

/Oct

/05

13

/No

v/0

5

13

/Dec

/05

13

/Jan

/06

13

/Feb

/06

13

/Mar

/06

13

/Ap

r/0

6

13

/May

/06

13

/Ju

n/0

6

13

/Ju

l/0

6

13

/Au

g/0

6

13

/Sep

/06

13

/Oct

/06

13

/No

v/0

6

13

/Dec

/06

13

/Jan

/07

13

/Feb

/07

13

/Mar

/07

13

/Ap

r/0

7

13

/May

/07

13

/Ju

n/0

7

13

/Ju

l/0

7

13

/Au

g/0

7

13

/Sep

/07

13

/Oct

/07

13

/No

v/0

7

13

/Dec

/07

13

/Jan

/08

13

/Feb

/08

13

/Mar

/08

13

/Ap

r/0

8

13

/May

/08

13

/Ju

n/0

8

13

/Ju

l/0

8

13

/Au

g/0

8

13

/Sep

/08

13

/Oct

/08

13

/No

v/0

8

13

/Dec

/08

13

/Jan

/09

13

/Feb

/09

13

/Mar

/09

13

/Ap

r/0

9

13

/May

/09

13

/Ju

n/0

9

13

/Ju

l/0

9

13

/Au

g/0

9

13

/Sep

/09

13

/Oct

/09

13

/No

v/0

9

13

/Dec

/09

13

/Jan

/10

13

/Feb

/10

13

/Mar

/10

13

/Ap

r/1

0

13

/May

/10

13

/Ju

n/1

0

13

/Ju

l/1

0

13

/Au

g/1

0

13

/Sep

/10

13

/Oct

/10

13

/No

v/1

0

13

/Dec

/10

13

/Jan

/11

13

/Feb

/11

13

/Mar

/11

13

/Ap

r/1

1

13

/May

/11

13

/Ju

n/1

1

13

/Ju

l/1

1

13

/Au

g/1

1

13

/Sep

/11

13

/Oct

/11

13

/No

v/1

1

13

/Dec

/11

13

/Jan

/12

13

/Feb

/12

13

/Mar

/12

13

/Ap

r/1

2

NU

RSE

RY

MO

RT.

%

New PRRSV strains introduction

July 04 Nov 04 Oct 05 Jan 06 Sept 06 Oct 07 Nov 08 Mai & Jun 09 Dec 10 Jan & Feb 12

15%

12.8%

Incidence of new PRRSV strains

introduction related to pig density

# FARMSTOTAL #

SOWS

INCIDENCE NEW

STRAINS

(1 every x month)

Remote area (>3 km) 4 5230 1/204

Filtered farms 2 1750 1/23

Medium to dense area

(1 to 3 km)11 14550 1/27

Dense area (2 farms

or more <1 km)3 4930 1/11.3

F.Menard sow herds - 2004 to 2012

New PRRSV strains introduction into sow herds by month

Jan 2004 to May 2012

F.Menard sow herds 25 000 sows

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

20

22

Jan Feb Mar Apr Mai Jun Jul Aug Sept Oct Nov DecNum

ber

of

PR

RSV

posi

tive s

am

ple

s

Months

Number of PRRSV positive samples

B. Morrison, 2012

What would Dr Leman do…

for PRRS ?

PRRS control in 2012?

1. Systemic approach to minimize disease expression

2. Gilt acclimatization for PRRS positive sow herds

3. Use of diagnostic tools – PCR and sequencing

4. Strong biosecurity rules

5. Barn filtration in dense hog area

6. PRRS regional control program

7. New areas of research

Controlling the system

to minimize disease

expression

Sow multiplication

Slaughter Plant

TREMENDOUS IMPACT ON OVERALL PRODUCTION FLOW

NUCLEUS

Replacement gilts

Sow herd ASow

herd BSow

herd CSow

herd ESow

herd D

Nursery Nursery Nursery N N N

Finisher Finisher Finisher F F F F F F F F F F F F

N N N N N N N N N

PRRSV -

PRRSV +/-

PRRS -

PRRS -

PRRSV -

PRRSV -

Gilt multiplication and boar studs must be PRRS free

PRRSV - BOAR STUD

• 20 flows of pigs

• Single source / 3 sites / AI AO

• Individual gilts acclimatization

• In house gilts multiplication and AI

• Standard management practices

FINISHERS

NURSERIES

SOW HERD

GILTS ACCLIM.

BARN

FLOW #1 FLOW #2 FLOW #4 FLOW #5 FLOW #6 FLOW #20FLOW #3

A B C D E F Y

A B C D E F Y

A B C D E F Y

A B C D E F Y

Boar studs + Gilts multipliers (PRRS naïve)

F.Menard production structure

Sow herd management to reduce

impact of disease

THE MENARD RULES

1. Stop inducing sows

2. Colostrum intake (day 0)

3. Leave max piglets to their mother (11 to 14)

4. Minimum cross fostering (<10%)

5. PRRS outbreak : Stop completely cross fostering

Thanks Monte!

Does Dr Leman would have

use gilt acclimatization in

order to control PRRS in

his herds ?

Certainly !

Gilt acclimatization

• The Pioneers :

• Dr Scott Dee

• The early researches

• Dre Montserrat Torremorell

• Naïve gilts introduction in PRRS positive herds

• Dre Laura Batista

• PRRS control in Mexico

• The first sero immunization project

• Dr Mark Fitzsimmons as a mentor

• Gilt acclimatization at Swine Graphic

Acclimation with

homologous field virus away

from the sow herd.

Key factors :

1. Achieving complete herd sterilizing immunity

eliminating naïve subpopulations.

2. Exposure of replacement gilts for the next 5

months to the homologous PRRSV strain.

3. Farm closure

The F.Menard strategy

Acclimate gilts at a very young age in

order to wean PRRS negative piglets

from PRRS positive stable sow herd.

Sow herd

Gilt

acclim .barn

PRRSVStrain A

A

Sow herd

Gilt

barn

Strain B

B

Sow herd

Gilt

barn

Strain C

C

Sow herd

Gilt

barn

Strain D

D

• Séro

immunization

Isolated offsite

EXPOSURE

Specific gilt acclimatization

F.Menard

Sow herd and gilt acclimatization become one single unit

Long term gilt acclimatization and

parity one segregation – F.Menard

P

A

R

I

T

Y

O

N

E

S

E

G

R

E

G

A

T

I

O

N

Sero immunizationAI/AO section–55 d

Continuous

section – 80 d

AI/AO section –50 d

Gilt gestation

P1 farrowing rooms

P2 + herd

Gilt

acclimatization

barn

Quarantine

Sow herd A

On site

On site

Off site

345 days old

50 days old

Exposure

Cool

down

PRRSV naïve gilts

PRRSV immunized gilts

AI/AO section –50 d

Gilts acclimatization - advantages

1. Stabilize sow herd quickly following on

outbreak

• Provide gilt immunity to homologous strain

2. Long term immunity in hog dense region

3. Important strategy for eradication

•Since off site, it mimic herd closure without

production break

What would Dr Leman have

thought about PRRSV

PCR and sequencing to help in

PRRS control ?

Maternity

Nurseries

Finishers

Boar stud

Gilt

nucleus/multiplication

PRRSV

PCR AND

SEQUENCING

SERUM OR

ORALFLUID

The diagnostic : Essential tool

for best PRRS control

MONITORING : PRRSV STATUS

Diagnostic - F.Menard

PRRSV PCR and

sequencing

PRRSV strain sequence % homology

(ORF5)

• 485 sequences

identified since 1998

• Homologous or

Heterologous

• Relationship to other

sequences

• 1998 to 2002

• 226 field cases

• ORF5 PRRSV sequencing

• Main relationships between strains

1. Introduction of infected animals

2. Area spread

•Distance between farms

•Ownership (same or different)

2012 – University of Montreal

Quebec, Canada

• Bank of 2500 PRRSV sequences

• Grouping of sequences from Quebec field cases

• Predominant strain = « Tsunami »

• 10% of the FVM sequence database

• Appearance in 2007

• « Tsunami » strain = 13% F.Menard sequences

Dre Sylvie D’Allaire and co-workers

What about Dr Leman’s

perception of biosecurty

today ?

Biosecurity – Case #1

• April 26, 2012

•PRRSV naïve sow herd

•Very isolated farm

•New PRRSV introduction

•ORF5 sequences = « Tsunami strain »

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

26

27

28

29

30

31

1 ju

i 06

29

jui 0

6

26 a

ou

06

sep

t 06

oct

06

25

no

v 0

6

30 d

ec 0

6

27 ja

n 0

7

24 f

ev 0

7

31 m

ar 0

7

28 a

vr 0

7

26 m

ai 0

7

30

jui 0

7

28

jui 0

7

25 a

ou

07

29 s

ep 0

7

27 o

ct 0

7

24

no

v 0

7

29 d

ec 0

7

26 ja

n 0

8

23 f

ev 0

8

29 m

ar 0

8

26 a

vr 0

8

31 m

ai 0

8

28

jui 0

8

26

jui 0

8

30 a

ou

08

27 s

ep 0

8

25 o

ct 0

8

29

no

v 0

8

3 ja

n 0

9

31 ja

n 0

9

28 f

ev 0

9

4 av

r 09

2 m

ai 0

9

30 m

ai 0

9

4 ju

il 09

1 a

ou

09

29 a

ou

09

3 o

ct 0

9

31 o

ct 0

9

28

no

v 0

9

2 ja

n 1

0

30 ja

n 1

0

27 f

év 1

0

3 av

r 10

1 m

ai 1

0

29 m

ai 1

0

3 ju

i 10

31 ju

i 10

28 a

ou

10

2 o

ct 1

0

30 o

ct 1

0

27 n

ov

10

1 ja

n 1

1

29 ja

n 1

1

26 f

ev 1

1

2 av

r 11

30 a

vr 1

1

28 m

ai 1

1

2 ju

il 11

30 ju

il 11

27 a

ou

11

1 o

ct 1

1

29 o

ct 1

1

26 n

ov

11

31 d

ec 1

1

28 ja

n 1

2

25 f

ev 1

2

31 m

ar 1

2

28 a

vr 1

2

26 m

ai 1

2

30 ju

in 1

2

28 ju

il 12

PIG

WEA

NED

/SO

W/Y

EAR

PIG WEANED/SOW/YEAR "TSUNAMI STRAIN"

New PRRSV strainintroduction -> May 12

28

4

Biosecurity

PRRSV strain sequence % homology (ORF5)

Biosecurity

Source of contamination ??

• Homologous to sequences within our

organization

• 12 years without PRRS contamination

• Many repairs and visitors during last months

• Inadequate showers and disinfection room

Conclusion : Internal contamination

-> Biosecurity breach by personnel

Biosecurity – Case #2

• April 23, 2012

•Filtered sow farm

•PRRSV naïve

•New PRRSV introduction

Biosecurity

PRRSV strain sequence % homology (ORF5)

• Log book – Maintenance

• Friday morning

•Repair crew in finisher barn receiving the

highly PRRSV contaminated piglets.

• Monday morning

•Repair at the filtered sow farm (72 hrs later!).

Same crew – same truck

•Fans introduced through disinfection room

Biosecurity

Source of contamination

Biosecurity – Case #2

Conclusion

PRRSV introduction by contaminated

material

Need very few viruses to infect

High survival and stability of some

viruses in the environment

Biosecurity

Manure Linhares et al. 2012

Otake 2012

Predictors associated with PRRS positive status using

multivariable logistic regression model whit robust SE on

ownership (54 sites)

Description of predictors Odds ratio P-value

Heat producing unit > 300 (HPU) 10.7 0.02

Distance from closest pig site ≤ 2.5 (km) 7.3 <0.01

No shower at the entrance 8.7 <0.01

Access to the site by rendering truck 7.0 0.03

Biosecurity

Lambert M.-E. et al. 2012

% of pairwise combinations having ≥98% homology between

wildtype strains over total number of combinations –

122 sequences – 7381 pairwise combinations

Distance between sitesSame

ownership

Different

ownershipTotal

≤ 5 km16.0%

8/50

0.9%

7/785

1.8%

15/83516 X

> 5 km to ≤ 10 km9.6%

8/83

0.3%

5/1453

0.8%

13/153632 X

> 10 km5.2%

9/174

0.4%

20/4853

0.6%

29/501013 X

Total8.1%

25/307

0.6%

32/7074

0.8%

57/738114 X

Biosecurity

Lambert M.-E. et al. 2012

Strict compliance with biosecurity rules

is the single most important factor

It is imperative to find the source of

contamination

Internal or aerosol

ORF5 sequencing = The best tool!

Remote Area

Pig Dense Area

PRRS control :

The site is the

primary factor!

Would Dr Leman have used

air filtration to prevent new

introduction of PRRSV ?

Summary of new PRRSV infections before

and after air filtration in breeding herds

Group Cohort n Enrolled

End of

follow

up

Time at

risk/herd

(months)

Total herd

time at

risk

(months)

Number

of cases

Pre-

filtration

(control)

A 5 May 05 Sep 08 40 200 20

B 5 May 06 Sep 09 28 140 17

C 14 May 07 Sep 10 16 224 21

Total (24) 564 58

Post-

filtration

(treatment)

A 5 Sep 08 Jan 12 40 200 3

B 5 Sep 09 Jan 12 28 140 1

C 14 Sep 10 Jan 12 16 224 4

Total (24) 564 8

S. Dee et Al. 2012

C. Alonso et al. IPVS 2012

Presqu’Ile

800 sows

(2010)

Ste-Brigide

1000 sows

(2008)

F.Menard

filtered farms

10.00

11.00

12.00

13.00

14.00

15.00

16.00

17.00

18.00

19.00

20.00

21.00

22.00

23.00

24.00

25.00

26.00

27.00

28.00

29.00

30.00

31.00

32.00

33.00

1 ja

n 0

5

26 f

ev 0

5

30 a

vr 0

5

2 ju

i 05

28 a

ou

05

29 o

ct 0

5

31 d

ec 0

5

25 f

ev 0

6

29 a

vr 0

6

1 ju

i 06

26 a

ou

06

oct

06

30 d

ec 0

6

24 f

ev 0

7

28 a

vr 0

7

30 ju

i 07

25 a

ou

07

27 o

ct 0

7

29 d

ec 0

7

23 f

ev 0

8

26 a

vr 0

8

28 ju

i 08

30 a

ou

08

25 o

ct 0

8

3 ja

n 0

9

28 f

ev 0

9

2 m

ai 0

9

4 ju

il 09

29 a

ou

09

31 o

ct 0

9

2 ja

n 1

0

27 f

év 1

0

1 m

ai 1

0

3 ju

i 10

28 a

ou

10

30 o

ct 1

0

1 ja

n 1

1

26 f

ev 1

1

30 a

vr 1

1

2 ju

il 11

27 a

ou

11

29 o

ct 1

1

31 d

ec 1

1

25 f

ev 1

2

28 a

vr 1

2

P

V

T

A

Differentsstrains May 05 July 06 May 08 Oct 08 Oct 09 Nov 10 Feb 11

PRE-FILTRATION 44 months4 new PRRSV infection

POST-FILTRATION 44 months1 new PRRSV infection

Installationof filters

PRRSV gilthomologous acclimation

Homologous strain

Pig

weaned/so

w/year

Filtered farms – PRRSV infection

• Before filtration : PRRS break every year

• After filtration : PRRS break :

• Farm A = 1/4 yrs

• Farm B = 1/2 yrs

Reasons for PRRSV contamination

1. Gilt transport in swine dense area

2. Personal biosecurity breach

• Boots and equipment material

Double doors principle

Filtered farms – The devil is in the details

Clear SOP’s No air leakage

Would Dr Leman have been

involved in one of these PRRS

regional control projects?

I think so!

United-States

Becton, Morrison, AASV 2012

Canada – PRRS regional projects - 2012

26

sites

150 sites

236

sites

Niagara project

5 projects

September 2011

90% PRRS positive

Larochelle, D’Allaire and Magar

CFIA and University of Montreal

5 Veterinarians sharing informations on

PRRSV sequences (ORF5)

The first collaborative team work

Quebec, Canada

Benefits of PRRS regional

control project

1.Farm location, production type

2.Share PRRSV status and sequences

3.Strategic and uniform action plan

PRRS regional control project –

Monteregie region

F.Menard

3 other integrated

companies

Independant

producers

Highlights of the action plan

1. Clusters of production

• Same source of pigs around sow farms

2. Stabilize sow herds

• Offsite gilt acclimation/herd closure

3. Protect naïve herds with same

commercial live PRRSV vaccine strain

4. Prevent introduction of new PRRSV

strain through pigs in the region

Real big impact of these projects

• Improve quality of information

• Increase use of valid diagnostic tools

• Sequencing (ORF5)

• Homology

• Phylogenic tree

• Occasion to look back at our system

• Grouping of strains within

organizations

• Internal transmission

Which research would

have interested

Dr Leman the most ?

Recent News

Scientists discover PRRS resistance gene By Melodie Michel, 05-Mar-2012

Related topics: Safety & Legislation, Livestock, United States

A team of US scientists have discovered a genetic marker determining pigs’ level of resistance to porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS).

The findings could help the country reduce the impact of PRRS, a disease costing the pork industry an

estimated $664m a year.

Lisa Becton, director of swine health and information at Pork Checkoff, which funded the research,

said: “PRRS is one of the industry’s top ongoing issues, so this research discovery is a major step in

the right direction. Pork producers realise that supporting science-based research is not an overnight

proposition. It’s especially gratifying to achieve results like this and to envision how they can be

implemented at the farm level.”

PRRS Host Genetics Consortium

• PRRS researchers (including virologists)

• NC1037/NRSP8 (swine genome)

• NPB Swine Health and Animal Science Committees

• Veterinarians

• AASV

• Producers

• Commercial partners representing breeders, animal health,

feed and diagnostic companies

• Topigs, Fast Genetics, Genesus, Genetiporc,

Newsham, PIC

Viral load vs. weight gain

Individual pig data

from PHGC 1-3

rp = -0.25

Source: Boddicker et al. 2012

PRRS challenge trial

Effect of SSC4 SNP WUR10000125 on viral load

Adapted from Dekkers et al., 2012

Where do we go now in terms of

PRRS control?

• As practitioners, we learned a lot on PRRS

• Have to use research results and apply it

in our day to day work

• Get into all these new projects

• Be pro active

• Be part of our producers success

What will we do when PRRS

is completely eradicated ?

We will have more time to enjoy life!

HOG JOG – IPVS 2010

Special thanks to my family

Special thanks to my F.Menard team

Special thanks to my scientific mentors

• Dre Sylvie D’Allaire

• Dr André Broes

• Dre Laura Batista

• Dr Robert Desrosiers

• Dr Bob Morrison