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Puspitarani GA, Fuchs R, Fuchs K, Ladinig A, Desvars-Larrive A. Network analysis of pig movement data as an epidemiological tool: an Austrian case study. Sci Rep 2023; 13:9623. [PMID: 37316653 PMCID: PMC10267221 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-36596-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/23/2023] [Accepted: 06/06/2023] [Indexed: 06/16/2023] Open
Abstract
Animal movements represent a major risk for the spread of infectious diseases in the domestic swine population. In this study, we adopted methods from social network analysis to explore pig trades in Austria. We used a dataset of daily records of swine movements covering the period 2015-2021. We analyzed the topology of the network and its structural changes over time, including seasonal and long-term variations in the pig production activities. Finally, we studied the temporal dynamics of the network community structure. Our findings show that the Austrian pig production was dominated by small-sized farms while spatial farm density was heterogeneous. The network exhibited a scale-free topology but was very sparse, suggesting a moderate impact of infectious disease outbreaks. However, two regions (Upper Austria and Styria) may present a higher structural vulnerability. The network also showed very high assortativity between holdings from the same federal state. Dynamic community detection revealed a stable behavior of the clusters. Yet trade communities did not correspond to sub-national administrative divisions and may be an alternative zoning approach to managing infectious diseases. Knowledge about the topology, contact patterns, and temporal dynamics of the pig trade network can support optimized risk-based disease control and surveillance strategies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gavrila A Puspitarani
- Unit of Veterinary Public Health and Epidemiology, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, Veterinaerplatz 1, 1210, Vienna, Austria.
- Complexity Science Hub Vienna, Josefstaedter Strasse 39, 1080, Vienna, Austria.
| | - Reinhard Fuchs
- Department for Data, Statistics and Risk Assessment, Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety (AGES), Zinzendorfgasse 27/1, 8010, Graz, Austria
- Institute of Systems Sciences, Innovation and Sustainability Research, University of Graz, Merangasse 18/1, 8010, Graz, Austria
| | - Klemens Fuchs
- Department for Data, Statistics and Risk Assessment, Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety (AGES), Zinzendorfgasse 27/1, 8010, Graz, Austria
| | - Andrea Ladinig
- University Clinic for Swine, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, Veterinaerplatz 1, 1210, Vienna, Austria
| | - Amélie Desvars-Larrive
- Unit of Veterinary Public Health and Epidemiology, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, Veterinaerplatz 1, 1210, Vienna, Austria
- Complexity Science Hub Vienna, Josefstaedter Strasse 39, 1080, Vienna, Austria
- VetFarm, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, Kremesberg 13, 2563, Pottenstein, Austria
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Penrith ML, van Heerden J, Pfeiffer DU, Oļševskis E, Depner K, Chenais E. Innovative Research Offers New Hope for Managing African Swine Fever Better in Resource-Limited Smallholder Farming Settings: A Timely Update. Pathogens 2023; 12:355. [PMID: 36839627 PMCID: PMC9963711 DOI: 10.3390/pathogens12020355] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/01/2023] [Revised: 02/17/2023] [Accepted: 02/19/2023] [Indexed: 02/23/2023] Open
Abstract
African swine fever (ASF) in domestic pigs has, since its discovery in Africa more than a century ago, been associated with subsistence pig keeping with low levels of biosecurity. Likewise, smallholder and backyard pig farming in resource-limited settings have been notably affected during the ongoing epidemic in Eastern Europe, Asia, the Pacific, and Caribbean regions. Many challenges to managing ASF in such settings have been identified in the ongoing as well as previous epidemics. Consistent implementation of biosecurity at all nodes in the value chain remains most important for controlling and preventing ASF. Recent research from Asia, Africa, and Europe has provided science-based information that can be of value in overcoming some of the hurdles faced for implementing biosecurity in resource-limited contexts. In this narrative review we examine a selection of these studies elucidating innovative solutions such as shorter boiling times for inactivating ASF virus in swill, participatory planning of interventions for risk mitigation for ASF, better understanding of smallholder pig-keeper perceptions and constraints, modified culling, and safe alternatives for disposal of carcasses of pigs that have died of ASF. The aim of the review is to increase acceptance and implementation of science-based approaches that increase the feasibility of managing, and the possibility to prevent, ASF in resource-limited settings. This could contribute to protecting hundreds of thousands of livelihoods that depend upon pigs and enable small-scale pig production to reach its full potential for poverty alleviation and food security.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mary-Louise Penrith
- Department of Veterinary Tropical Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Pretoria, Onderstepoort, Pretoria 0110, South Africa
| | - Juanita van Heerden
- Transboundary Animal Diseases, Onderstepoort Veterinary Research, Agricultural Research Council, Pretoria 0110, South Africa
| | - Dirk U. Pfeiffer
- Centre for Applied One Health Research and Policy Advice, Jockey Club College of Veterinary Medicine and Life Sciences, City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR, China
- Department of Pathobiology and Population Sciences, Veterinary Epidemiology, Economics, and Public Health Group, Royal Veterinary College, Hatfield AL9 7TA, UK
| | - Edvīns Oļševskis
- Food and Veterinary Service, LV-1050 Riga, Latvia
- Institute of Food Safety, Animal Health and Environment, “BIOR“, LV-1076 Riga, Latvia
| | - Klaus Depner
- Friedrich-Loeffler-Institute, Greifswald-Insel Riems, 17493 Greifswald, Germany
| | - Erika Chenais
- Department of Disease Control and Epidemiology, National Veterinary Institute, S-751 89 Uppsala, Sweden
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O'Hara KC, Beltrán-Alcrudo D, Hovari M, Tabakovski B, Martínez-López B. Network analysis of live pig movements in North Macedonia: Pathways for disease spread. Front Vet Sci 2022; 9:922412. [PMID: 36016804 PMCID: PMC9396142 DOI: 10.3389/fvets.2022.922412] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/17/2022] [Accepted: 07/19/2022] [Indexed: 11/27/2022] Open
Abstract
Globalization of trade, and the interconnectivity of animal production systems, continues to challenge efforts to control disease. A better understanding of trade networks supports development of more effective strategies for mitigation for transboundary diseases like African swine fever (ASF), classical swine fever (CSF), and foot-and-mouth disease (FMD). North Macedonia, bordered to the north and east by countries with ongoing ASF outbreaks, recently reported its first incursion of ASF. This study aimed to describe the distribution of pigs and pig farms in North Macedonia, and to characterize the live pig movement network. Network analyses on movement data from 2017 to 2019 were performed for each year separately, and consistently described weakly connected components with a few primary hubs that most nodes shipped to. In 2019, the network demonstrated a marked decrease in betweenness and increase in communities. Most shipments occurred within 50 km, with movements <6 km being the most common (22.5%). Nodes with the highest indegree and outdegree were consistent across years, despite a large turnover among smallholder farms. Movements to slaughterhouses predominated (85.6%), with movements between farms (5.4%) and movements to market (5.8%) playing a lesser role. This description of North Macedonia's live pig movement network should enable implementation of more efficient and cost-effective mitigation efforts strategies in country, and inform targeted educational outreach, and provide data for future disease modeling, in the region.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kathleen C. O'Hara
- Center for Animal Disease Modeling and Surveillance (CADMS), School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, United States
| | - Daniel Beltrán-Alcrudo
- Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia, Budapest, Hungary
| | - Mark Hovari
- Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia, Budapest, Hungary
| | - Blagojcho Tabakovski
- Food and Veterinary Agency, Republic of North Macedonia, Skopje, North Macedonia
| | - Beatriz Martínez-López
- Center for Animal Disease Modeling and Surveillance (CADMS), School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, United States
- *Correspondence: Beatriz Martínez-López
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Hakobyan S, Ross P, Bayramyan N, Poghosyan A, Avetisyan A, Avagyan H, Hakobyan L, Abroyan L, Harutyunova L, Karalyan Z. Experimental models of ecological niches for african swine fever virus. Vet Microbiol 2022; 266:109365. [DOI: 10.1016/j.vetmic.2022.109365] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/07/2021] [Revised: 01/21/2022] [Accepted: 02/05/2022] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
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Gallardo C, Soler A, Nurmoja I, Cano-Gómez C, Cvetkova S, Frant M, Woźniakowski G, Simón A, Pérez C, Nieto R, Arias M. Dynamics of African swine fever virus (ASFV) infection in domestic pigs infected with virulent, moderate virulent and attenuated genotype II ASFV European isolates. Transbound Emerg Dis 2021; 68:2826-2841. [PMID: 34273247 DOI: 10.1111/tbed.14222] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/16/2021] [Revised: 06/28/2021] [Accepted: 07/04/2021] [Indexed: 01/15/2023]
Abstract
This study aimed to compare the infection dynamics of three genotype II African swine fever viruses (ASFV) circulating in Europe. Eighteen domestic pigs divided into three groups were infected intramuscularly or by direct contact with two haemadsorbent ASFVs (HAD) from Poland (Pol16/DP/ OUT21) and Estonia (Est16/WB/Viru8), and with the Latvian non-HAD ASFV (Lv17/WB/Rie1). Parameters, such as symptoms, pathogenicity, and distribution of the virus in tissues, humoral immune response, and dissemination of the virus by blood, oropharyngeal and rectal routes, were investigated. The Polish ASFV caused a case of rapidly developing fatal acute disease, while the Estonian ASFV caused acute to sub-acute infections and two animals survived. In contrast, animals infected with the ASFV from Latvia developed a more subtle, mild, or even subclinical disease. Oral excretion was sporadic or even absent in the attenuated group, whereas in animals that developed an acute or sub-acute form of ASF, oral excretion began at the same time the ASFV was detected in the blood, or even 3 days earlier, and persisted up to 22 days. Regardless of virulence, blood was the main route of transmission of ASFV and infectious virus was isolated from persistently infected animals for at least 19 days in the attenuated group and up to 44 days in the group of moderate virulence. Rectal excretion was limited to the acute phase of infection. In terms of diagnostics, the ASFV genome was detected in contact pigs from oropharyngeal samples earlier than in blood, independently of virulence. Together with blood, both samples could allow to detect ASFV infection for a longer period. The results presented here provide quantitative data on the spread and excretion of ASFV strains of different virulence among domestic pigs that can help to better focus surveillance activities and, thus, increase the ability to detect ASF introductions earlier.
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Affiliation(s)
- Carmina Gallardo
- Centro de Investigación en Sanidad Animal, CISA, INIA-CSIC, European Union Reference Laboratory for African Swine Fever (EURL), Valdeolmos, Madrid, Spain
| | - Alejandro Soler
- Centro de Investigación en Sanidad Animal, CISA, INIA-CSIC, European Union Reference Laboratory for African Swine Fever (EURL), Valdeolmos, Madrid, Spain
| | - Imbi Nurmoja
- Estonian Veterinary and Food Laboratory, Estonian ASF-National reference laboratory (NRL), Kreutzwaldi, Tartu, Estonia
| | - Cristina Cano-Gómez
- Centro de Investigación en Sanidad Animal, CISA, INIA-CSIC, European Union Reference Laboratory for African Swine Fever (EURL), Valdeolmos, Madrid, Spain
| | - Svetlana Cvetkova
- Laboratory of Microbiology and Pathology Institute of Food Safety, Animal Health and Enviroment, BIOR, Latvian ASF-National reference laboratory, Lejupes, Riga, Latvia
| | - Maciej Frant
- National Veterinary Research Institute, Poland ASF-National reference laboratory, Partyzantow, Pulawy, Poland
| | - Grzegorz Woźniakowski
- National Veterinary Research Institute, Poland ASF-National reference laboratory, Partyzantow, Pulawy, Poland.,Department of Diagnostics and Clinical Sciences, Faculty of Biological and Veterinary Sciences, Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń, Lwowska, Toruń, Poland
| | - Alicia Simón
- Centro de Investigación en Sanidad Animal, CISA, INIA-CSIC, European Union Reference Laboratory for African Swine Fever (EURL), Valdeolmos, Madrid, Spain
| | - Covadonga Pérez
- Centro de Investigación en Sanidad Animal, CISA, INIA-CSIC, European Union Reference Laboratory for African Swine Fever (EURL), Valdeolmos, Madrid, Spain
| | - Raquel Nieto
- Centro de Investigación en Sanidad Animal, CISA, INIA-CSIC, European Union Reference Laboratory for African Swine Fever (EURL), Valdeolmos, Madrid, Spain
| | - Marisa Arias
- Centro de Investigación en Sanidad Animal, CISA, INIA-CSIC, European Union Reference Laboratory for African Swine Fever (EURL), Valdeolmos, Madrid, Spain
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Shi F, Huang B, Shen C, Liu Y, Liu X, Fan Z, Mubarik S, Yu C, Sun X. Characterization and influencing factors of the pig movement network in Hunan Province, China. Prev Vet Med 2021; 193:105396. [PMID: 34098232 DOI: 10.1016/j.prevetmed.2021.105396] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/15/2020] [Revised: 05/25/2021] [Accepted: 05/29/2021] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
In terms of pig production in China, Hunan was the third largest province where the number of hogs accounted for 9.0 % of the national number of hogs in 2017. To propose the precise strategy for supervision of pig movements in Hunan Province, a weighted directed one-mode network was constructed using the data from the electronic animal health certificate platform in 2017. The nodes were designed as districts in Hunan and edges as flows of pig movement between districts. Social network analysis was used to analyse network characteristics and generalized linear models were performed to ascertain the socioeconomic factors that affect the pig movement network. During 2017, the pig movement network within the Hunan Province was composed of 122 nodes and 8562 directed connections, with a total of 510,973 shipments and 17,815,040 pigs moved. The network displayed a small-world topology, which had a higher clustering coefficient (0.4 vs. 0.1) and shorter average shortest path length (1.8 vs. 3.7) compared with equivalent random networks. The degree centrality positively correlated with closeness centrality (r = 0.99, P < 0.001) as well as betweenness centrality (r = 0.91, P < 0.001). After restricting the cross-regional pig movements in areas with the top 10 % of degree centrality, the number of pigs was reduced by nearly 50 % in the network, whereas the number of pigs was reduced by 94.0 % when movement restrictions were implemented in areas with the top 50 % of degree centrality. Observed network metrics showed an upward trend during the months of 2017, peaking in November and December. Generalized linear models showed that the size of the human population and per capita gross domestic product were the most important socioeconomic drivers of pig movements. The pig movement network in Hunan Province is a small-world network in which the introduction and spread of diseases may be quicker. More human, material, and financial resources should be allocated to areas with higher centrality. Swine movements were seasonal, and the inspection and quarantine work should be reinforced in the fourth quarter, especially in November and December. Pig movements were more active in areas with larger populations and advanced economy, and stricter supervision in these areas should be implemented. Our findings contribute to understanding the movement of pigs and the associated influencing factors in a big pig producing province in China, and the supervision strategies proposed in this study can be extended to other regions in China if proved to be viable.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fang Shi
- Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Health Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430071, Hubei, China.
| | - Baoxu Huang
- China Animal Health and Epidemiology Center, Qingdao, 266032, Shandong, China.
| | - Chaojian Shen
- China Animal Health and Epidemiology Center, Qingdao, 266032, Shandong, China.
| | - Yan Liu
- Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Health Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430071, Hubei, China.
| | - Xiaoxue Liu
- Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Health Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430071, Hubei, China.
| | - Zhongxin Fan
- Animal Disease Prevention and Control Center of Hunan Province, Changsha, 410007, Hunan, China.
| | - Sumaira Mubarik
- Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Health Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430071, Hubei, China.
| | - Chuanhua Yu
- Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Health Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430071, Hubei, China; Global Health Institute, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430072, Hubei, China.
| | - Xiangdong Sun
- China Animal Health and Epidemiology Center, Qingdao, 266032, Shandong, China.
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Cardenas NC, VanderWaal K, Veloso FP, Galvis JOA, Amaku M, Grisi-Filho JHH. Spatio-temporal network analysis of pig trade to inform the design of risk-based disease surveillance. Prev Vet Med 2021; 189:105314. [PMID: 33689961 DOI: 10.1016/j.prevetmed.2021.105314] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/01/2020] [Revised: 02/24/2021] [Accepted: 02/25/2021] [Indexed: 10/22/2022]
Abstract
Network analysis is a powerful tool to describe, estimate, and predict the role of pig trade in the spread of pathogens and generate essential patterns that can be used to understand, prevent, and mitigate possible outbreaks. This study aimed to describe the network between premises such as production herds, slaughterhouses, and traders of pig movements and identify heterogeneities in the connectivity of premises in the state of Santa Catarina, Brazil, using social network analysis (SNA). We used static and temporal network approaches to describe pig trade in the state by quantifying network attributes using SNA parameters, such as causal fidelity, loyalty, the proportion of node-loyalty, resilience of outgoing contact chains, and communities. Two indexes were implemented, the first one is a normalized index based on SNA-farm level measures and other index-based SNA-farm level measures considering the swineherd population size from all premises, both indexes were summarized by a municipality to target and rank surveillance activities. Within Santa Catarina, the southwest region played a key role in that 80 % of trade was concentrated in this region, and thus acted as a hub in the network. Besides, nine communities were found. The results also showed that premises were highly connected in the static network, with the network exhibiting low levels of fragmentation and loyalty. Also, just 11 % of the paths in the static network existed in the temporal network which accounted for the order in which edges occurred. Therefore, the use of time-respecting-paths was essential to not overestimate potential transmission pathways and outbreak sizes. Compared to static networks, the application of temporal network approaches was more suitable to capture the dynamics of pig trade and should be used to inform the design of riskbased disease surveillance.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nicolas Cespedes Cardenas
- Department of Preventive Veterinary Medicine and Animal Health, School of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.
| | - Kimberly VanderWaal
- Department of Veterinary Population Medicine, University of Minnesota, United States
| | | | - Jason Onell Ardila Galvis
- Department of Preventive Veterinary Medicine and Animal Health, School of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
| | - Marcos Amaku
- Department of Preventive Veterinary Medicine and Animal Health, School of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil; Department of Pathology, School of Medicine, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
| | - José H H Grisi-Filho
- Department of Preventive Veterinary Medicine and Animal Health, School of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
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