Prospects of improved classical swine fever control in backyard pigs through oral vaccination

Success in controlling classical swine fever (CSF) in regions with high proportions of pigs kept in small scale and low-biosecurity production systems, often referred to as backyard production, tends to be hampered by the lack of control strategies properly addressing the peculiarities of this epidemiologically important subpopulation. Under many circumstances the commonly practiced parenteral immunisation using live attenuated C-strain vaccine shows limitations concerning outreach of services and overall vaccination coverage in the backyard pig population. It is therefore proposed to stronger consider oral vaccine baits, as used for CSF control in wild boar, to complement the set of tools for CSF control in domestic pigs. First field results confirm the feasibility of its practical implementation. Next to the increased flexibility in the delivery to the end user, this non-invasive method comes along with the advantage of reducing the need for direct animal contact and biosecurity-relevant interventions that might cause the spread of diseases through vaccination campaigns entailing external personnel entering farm premises. In combination with epidemiological methods suitable for this production sector like e.g. participatory epidemiology, adapted CSF control strategies can better support the needs of small scale farmers and ultimately contribute to household food security for a large number of stakeholders that will have backyard pig production as a reality for decades to come.