Mhp Guardian – four-step process
Unlike more traditional diagnostics, the program is based around the specific question the producer wants answered, consultative interpretation of results and highly visual diagnostic summaries
Mhp Guardian is the first consultative, comprehensive Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae (Mhp) management program designed to move Mhp-positive herds into a negative or more stable status and helps keep them there.
It offers a step-by-step approach that guides a producer through a herd status identification process and delivers a customized road map for either a control or elimination program, depending on a producer’s specific objectives. Dr. Brianna Fredrich, a swine veterinarian with Zoetis, talked with Feedstuffs last fall about the new management program, as well as how to trouble shoot and overcome a common elimination intervention stumbling block – identifying day zero.
The Mhp Guardian program has four steps – the first step is to establish herd status using STOMP PLUS® (Zoetis diagnostic consultative service) as:
Category 1 – Positive uncontrolled – breeding herds are either going through an Mhp outbreak or status is unknown
Category 2 – Positive controlled – Mhp is not present in the first parity (P1) sows, but the herd is serologically positive. This status should be considered the goal for producers who do not pursue elimination and decide to control Mhp.
Category 3 – Provisionally negative – Mhp is not detected in the breeding herd, but the herd may be serologically positive. These herds have completed a whole-herd elimination program but can be further categorized based on vaccination (yes/no) protocol practices.
Category 4 – Negative – Mhp is not detected in any type of sample, so the population is considered serologically negative.
The second step is that of assessing intervention options. Step three is implementing intervention strategies; and step four is monitoring intervention outcomes.
Three of the four Mhp Guardian steps are supported by Stomp Plus, a complimentary Zoetis diagnostic consultative service that is based around the
specific question the producer wants answered, a recommended sampling plan, consultative interpretation of diagnostic results and highly visual diagnostic summaries. As Fredrich noted, it’s an approach that allows veterinarians to spend less time preparing and more time communicating their herd health information to producers.
Dr. Brianna Fredrich, a swine veterinarian with Zoetis, talks about the management program as well as Mhp in general and what’s known about the pathogen. To view.
