Use your Emergency Contact List of who to call and follow your General Procedures as well as the following:

List the factors that would trigger your disease response plan including thresholds for:

  • The number of animals showing signs of disease,
  • Your definition of “high” mortality rates;
  • Your description of a “significant” decrease in production, feed or water consumption

Check with your board for their definition/thresholds for high mortality/morbidity/production loss rates. If you have different triggers for different production groups, clarify each group’s benchmark triggers and ensure you have them documented.

List specific clinical signs that would automatically trigger activation of the disease response plan including:

  • swelling of the head, eyelids, comb, wattles, and legs
  • decreased egg production
  • sneezing, coughing or nasal discharge
  • white pasty excrement
  • sudden death without clinical signs
  • lack of appetite
  • diarrhea with other symptoms
  • lack of coordination

Symptoms described above may appear individually and not as a group of symptoms.