Infection Prevention and Control on Animal Farms - Training Curriculum

Recent outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza on dairy farms across the country have highlighted the need for dairy farms to have programs and policies in place to reduce risk of workers getting infected from avian influenza or other infectious disease. Such programs (focused on protection of workers) supplement but do not replace farm biosecurity programs that focus on animal health.

Putting in place an “Infection Prevention and Control” (IPC) program to handle routine infection risks even before there is an outbreak on a farm can protect workers on a day-to-day basis and also make it much easier to respond rapidly and safely to an avian influenza outbreak.

The University of Washington's Center for One Health Research and the Continuing Education Program of the Department of Environmental Sciences, in partnership with the Dairy industry, has created a simple template and accompanying materials to assist dairy farm health and safety managers in rapidly create an IPC for their farm.

On this website you will find the template for an infection prevention and control plan (in English and Spanish), as well as training videos and user guide, and links to employee training materials and other resources for infection control.

Funding and support for this project has been provided by the State of Washington, Department of Labor & Industries, Safety & Health Investment Projects.