INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — Indiana 4-H members have an opportunity to learn about zoonotic disease prevention and take that knowledge back to their communities – teams of high-schoolers are being sought for a "teens teaching teens" training workshop.
"Biosecurity and Zoonotic Disease Prevention: Influenza, Your Pig and You" will take place March 20-22 in Discovery Hall at the Indiana State Fairgrounds, and teams can register through Feb. 13.
"Our goal is to have 10 teams of five 4-H members," said Purdue University 4-H extension specialist Aaron Fisher. "We would like to have teams from different parts of the state. The state is already broken into 10 extension areas we’re using as a guide.
"It would be good to get a team from each of those, but it’s not a requirement. We would take more than one from an area."
One adult volunteer also is needed for each team. They must be approved 4-H volunteers, according to Fisher, who said they can become approved at their county extension offices.
He explained 2012 and 2103 were bad years for influenza cases in Indiana, in both pigs and people. He said the H3N2 variant, especially, has been seen throughout the state in both species. Though it wasn’t as prevalent in 2014, it has remained at the forefront.
"This is a zoonotic disease, so that means both people and pigs can get it," Fisher said. "People can get it from pigs, and pigs can get it from people." So, when the Indiana State Department of Health (ISDH) put out a request for grant proposals, he said, it seemed like a good opportunity to do something about it.
"In 4-H, we have a couple other programs using a train-the-trainer format, so we took that model and used it for this biosecurity workshop."
Participants will gather the evening of March 20 for team-building activities. The bulk of that Saturday will be spent learning subject matter, and Sunday will focus on the teaching aspect.
"They’ll learn how to teach various groups, and they’ll have time to work on a presentation they’d give," Fisher said.
Dr. Sandra San Miguel, who works in Purdue’s College of Veterinary Medicine and is on the Indiana Board of Animal Health (BOAH), will be one of the workshop presenters.
"I’m going to talk about the different ways diseases are spread and how they’re prevented," she said. "We have to keep animals and people healthy, and they share many diseases. If we’re aware how they’re spread, we can keep them from spreading.
"It carries on to good production practices. These kids are going to be feeding the world in a few years and be veterinarians and veterinary technicians."
Other BOAH presenters will have hands-on activities, according to agency public information specialist Alicia Rode. They’ll include information on personal protective equipment and how to put it on and take it off.
"We’re doing several different biosecurity activities, and also a tagging activity and an activity where the kids get to learn how to take the temperature of a pig," she noted.
Interested 4-H youth should contact their county extension office to sign up for the workshop, which is funded by a grant from the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the USDA. It’s sponsored by Indiana 4-H Youth Development, BOAH and ISDH.
