New Jersey Department of Agriculture

Memo

To: Veterinarians

From: Nancy E. Halpern, D. V. M. State Veterinarian

Date: September 11, 2007

Re: Biosecurity - Keeping Your Animals Safe and Healthy

As a service to horse and livestock owners and farm managers and in lieu of recent questions that have been raised in New Jersey concerning contagious horse disease(s), The Division of Animal Health at the New Jersey Department of Agriculture is providing recommendations on biosecurity practices and management tools to keep your animals safe and healthy both at home and at competitions.

Biosecurity is the series of management steps taken to prevent the introduction of infectious agents into an animal herd. Most diseases are spread through direct or physical contact, oral ingestion through contamination of feed or water, or inhalation of infectious agents. Disease can also be transmitted via fomites. A fomite is an inanimate object or substance that is capable of transmitting infectious organisms from one individual to another. This would include brushes, pitchforks, wheel barrels, automobile tires, clothing, shoes and even human hands. Keeping in mind how disease is spread should help you in reducing the risk that infectious agents are carried onto your farm.

Precautions to protect your horses/livestock:

• Clean and disinfect equipment such as bits, bridles, lead shanks and clippers between use on different animals.

• Horse specific equipment such as water buckets, feed buckets, and halters should be clearly labeled as belonging to an individual horse and used only on that horse.

• When filling water buckets, keep the nozzle of the hose above the water level to avoid carrying infectious agents from one bucket to the next.

• Wheel barrels should only be used for either feed/hay or waste removal. DO NOT use the same wheel barrel for both.

• Multi-dose medications such as dewormers or paste medications should not be shared between horses.

• Quarantine new arrivals for at least 30 days (horses returning from other premises should be quarantined for at least 2 weeks). During quarantine do not allow nose to nose contact. Monitor the quarantined animals daily and take daily temperatures - this will help in early detection of disease. Keep separate equipment for the quarantine animals. This includes pitchfork, wheel barrel and brushes. Care for the quarantine animals last.

• Visitors to the farm should wear clean clothes and shoes. If you have visited another farm or been to a competition, you should change shoes and clothes as well as wash your hands before entering your barn.

When off premises with your horse/livestock, avoid using common water buckets, feed buckets, tack or equipment. Avoid hand grazing your animals at shows in a common eating area. Avoid contact with animals of unknown origin.

If you suspect your horse is ill, it should be examined by a licensed veterinarian. If not already in quarantine, isolate it other animals in your barn. In the case of a reportable disease or disease outbreak, your veterinarian will notify the New Jersey Department of Agriculture, Division of Animal Health.

The following are reportable diseases:

Multiple Species Diseases

Aflatoxin

African Animal Trypanosomiasis

Aujeszky's disease (Psuedorabies)

Bluetongue/ Epizootic Hemorrhagic Dz

Botulism

Burkholderia (pseudomallei, mallei)

Campylobacteriosis

Coccidiomycosis

Echinococcus/hyatidosis

Foot and Mouth disease

Foreign Pests and Vectors of Arthropod-borne disease

Hantavirus

Heartwater

Leptospirosis

Lumpy skin disease

New and Old World Screwworm

Nipah Virus

Orthopox virus (Monkey Pox, Camel Pox, Sheep and Goat Pox)

Paratuberculosis

Plaque (Yersinia pestis)

Q fever (Coxiella brunetti)

Ricin

Rift Valley Fever

Salmonellosis

Tuberculosis

Tularemia (Francisella tularensis)

Vesicular stomatitis

Viral Hemorrhagic diseases

Hemorrhagic Septicaemia

Toxins (Shigatoxin (STEC e.coli),Staphylococcal enterotoxins,T-2 toxin)

Diseases infectious to livestock

Akabane

African Horse Fever

African Swine Fever

Anaplasmosis

Anthrax

Bovine Ephemeral Fever

Brucellosis

Cattle tick fever (Babesiosis)

Caprine Arthritis Encephalisis (CAE)

Classical Swine Fever

Contagious Agalactia of Sheep and Goats

Contagious Bovine Plueropneumonia

Contagious equine metritis (CEM)

Contagious Caprine Plueroneumonia

Cysticercosis

Dourine

East Coast Fever

Epizootic Lymphangitis

Equine Morbillivirus Pneumonia

Equine Piroplasmosis

Equine infectious anemia (EIA)

Equine rhinopneumonitis (EHV-1, EHV-4)

Equine viral encephalitis

Erysipelas in swine

Glanders

Hendra Virus

Louping Ill

Maedi-Visna

Malignant Catarrhal Fever

Meliodiosis

Menangle Virus

Mycoplasma (Capricolum/M.F38/ mycoides mycoides, mycoides capri

Mucosal disease complex

Nairobi Sheep Disease

Parafilariasis in Cattle

Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS)

Pseudorabies

Peste Des Petits Ruminants

Rabies

Rinderpest

Swine Vesicular Diseases

Transmissable spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs)

Trichinellosis

Trichomonosis

Tuberculosis (Mycobacterium avium, Mycobacterium bovis, and Mycobacterium tuberculosis)

Vesicular exanthema

Diseases infectious to poultry

Asian tapeworm (Bothriocephalus acheilognathi)

Avian infection bronchitis

Avian infectious laryngotracheitis

Avian influenza

Avian mycoplasmosis

Exotic New Castle Disease (VVND)

Duck virus enteritis

Erysipelas in poultry

Fowl cholera

Fowl typhoid (Salmonella gallinarum)

Paracolon infestation

Paratyphoid infection (Salmonella paratyphi)

Psittacosis (ornithosis, chlamydiosis)

Pullorum (Salmonella pullorum)

Salmonella enteriditis

Diseases infectious to aquaculture

Bacterial kidney disease (Renibacterium salmonarium)

Baculovirus pennaci and other Baculovirus species

Channel catfish virus

Disseminated neoplasia blue mussel

Enteric Redmouth (Yersinia ruckeri)

Enteric septicemia of catfish (Edwardsiella tarda, Icctalari)

Epizootic hematopoietic necrosis

Furunculosis (Aeromonas salmonicida)

Infectious hematopoietic necrosis

Infectious pancreatic necrosis virus

Juvenile oyster disease

Koi herpes virus

Non-endemic Protozoan and Metazoan parasites of finfish

Onchorychus masou virus disease

Perkinsus chesapeaki

Pleistophora ovariae in baitfish

Streptococcus iniae and other streptococcus species of finfish

Spring Viremia of Carp

Taura virus

Viral encephalopathy and retinopathy

Whirling disease (Myxobolus cerebralis)

White spot disease virus

Yellowhead disease

Proliferative kidney disease

Viral hemorrhagic septicemia