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. 2020 Sep 11;10(9):1630.
doi: 10.3390/ani10091630.

Veterinarians' Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices Associated with Bovine Viral Diarrhoea Virus Control and Prevention in South-East Australia

Claire McMorrow  1   2 , Allan J Gunn  1   2 , Shahid Khalfan  1 , Marta Hernandez-Jover  1   2 , Victoria J Brookes  1   2
Affiliations

Veterinarians' Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices Associated with Bovine Viral Diarrhoea Virus Control and Prevention in South-East Australia

Claire McMorrow et al. Animals (Basel). .

Abstract

In Australia, the responsibility and associated costs for the control and prevention of Bovine Viral Diarrhoea Virus (BVDV) rest solely with producers. Veterinarians provide producers with farm-specific options for BVDV management and support BVDV control and elimination in their region. We surveyed veterinarians to determine their knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAP) associated with BVDV control in south-east Australia. We found that veterinarians' recommendations do not always align with producers' control measures. Veterinarians were uncertain about BVDV prevalence and the proportion of producers using BVDV control measures in their regions. Veterinarians generally promoted biosecurity and vaccination, and were concerned about the welfare and additional disease risks associated with persistently infected (PI) cattle. Veterinarians highlighted concerns about disease risks associated with a previously undocumented practice in which producers collect blood from PI cattle to administer to BVDV naïve cattle; termed "vampire vaccination" in this study. A greater understanding of the burden, impact and economics of BVDV is needed to align veterinarians' and producers' KAP to improve BVDV management on farms, and more appreciation of veterinarians' and producers' values is needed before BVDV control could be implemented at a regional or country level.

Keywords: Australia; bovine viral diarrhoea virus; control; persistently infected; welfare.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Location of participating veterinarians in a survey of veterinarians’ knowledge, attitudes and practices associated with bovine viral diarrhoea virus management on farms in the temperate zone of south-east Australia in 2019. Each dot is located on the centroid of the participant’s local government area (LGA); all LGSs extended into the temperate climate zone.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Density plot of the distribution of the estimated herd-level prevalence of bovine viral diarrhoea virus (BVDV) in beef breeder (black dotted line), beef rearer (black solid line) and dairy properties (dashed line) in a survey of veterinarians’ knowledge, attitudes and practices associated with BVDV management on properties in the temperate zone of south-east Australia in 2019. Vertical lines: grey solid = median combined between-property prevalence; grey dashed = 95% range of between-property prevalence. The extents of the plot <0 and >100 should not be interpreted; line extension is due to the smoothing process in constructing density plots.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Density plot of the range of uncertainty about between-farm prevalence of bovine viral diarrhoea virus (BVDV) in beef breeder (dotted line), beef rearer (solid line) and dairy properties (dashed line) in a survey of veterinarians’ knowledge, attitudes and practices associated with BVDV management on properties in the temperate zone of south-east Australia in 2019. Vertical lines: grey solid = median combined between-property prevalence; grey dashed = 95% range of between-property prevalence. The extents of the plot <0 and >100 should not be interpreted; line extension is due to the smoothing process in constructing density plots.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Barplots of the frequency of management practices used on bovine viral diarrhoea virus (BVDV) positive properties reported by veterinarians, in a survey of veterinarians’ knowledge, attitudes and practices associated with BVDV management on properties in the temperate climate zone of south-east Australia in 2019. PI = persistently infected cattle. Both = veterinarians working with both beef and dairy properties.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Barplots of the frequency of management practices used on bovine viral diarrhoea virus (BVDV) negative properties reported by veterinarians, in a survey of veterinarians’ knowledge, attitudes and practices associated with BVDV management on farms in the temperate zone of south-east Australia in 2019. PI = persistently infected cattle.
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