Epidemic Characteristics of Foot and Mouth Disease on the Buffaloes and Cows in Lang Son Province, Vietnam

Abstract

From 2011 to 2015, in Lang Son province, Vietnam, foot and mouth disease (FMD) occurred in 11 districts and town. The virus causing FMD on the cattle in Lang Son belonged to type O and type A. While type Asia 1 virus had occurred in some other provinces in Vietnam, it was not found in Lang Son. FMD epidemic in Lang Son province had no regularity. In one district, the epidemic occurred continuously in two or three years (e.g. in Binh Gia and Van Quan districts) while in some others, it occurred only once (e.g. Cao Loc district and Lang Son city). On average, 1.26% of the buffaloes and cows were infected with FMD per year. Precisely, 1.39% of the buffaloes and 0.75% of the cows were infected. FMD on the buffaloes and cows in Lang Son was under the influence of (i) the weather and climate conditions (especially the years with extremely cold winter), (ii) the seasonal agricultural practice in the locality (during the time of the year when the cattle were used for ploughing and pulling carts for the crops, their health was relatively declined), and (iii) the results of vaccination in early Autumn – Winter season (the smaller the number of cattle vaccinated, the higher the number of cattle infected). These influences were clearly observed in 2011 with the highest number of cattle infected (8,929 infected cattle, accounting for 5.3% of the herds, whereas the average rate of infection in the whole five studied years was 1.26%). The sources of FMD were identified as mainly came from the infected cattle which had been medically treated and clear of the symptoms, yet still carried and shed the virus to the environment. On average, the rate of natural virus infection on the cattle in Lang Son was 33.23%. Of which, the rate was highest in the following districts: Bac Son (66.66%), Van Quan (50%), Trang Dinh (32.88%) and Binh Gia (28.57%). After being injected with FMD vaccine (Aftovax Bivalent, with 2 types of O and A), 100% of the cattle had immune response. 30 days after vaccination, the rate of protection varied from 86.6% to 100%. Six months after the first vaccination shot, a second one must be done for the vaccination to be effective.