Heat-treating trucks and trailers is not as effective as washing and disinfecting to get rid of porcine epidemic diarrhea virus, a new Iowa State University study reported.
Funded through the Swine Health Information Center’s (SHIC) Wean-to-Harvest Biosecurity Research Program, in collaboration with the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research and the Pork Checkoff, the study compared several trailer cleaning strategies. Researchers evaluated an untreated positive and negative control, alongside three cleaning methods:
· Dry scrape and bake followed by heat treatment
· Volume hose flush with disinfectant
· Power wash with disinfectant
According to SHIC Executive Director Dr. Megan Niederwerder, both the volume hose and power wash methods reduced viral contamination by more than 99 per cent and completely inactivated PEDv.
The scrape and bake method did reduce the viral load but failed to inactivate the virus.
