Abstract
Foot and mouth disease (FMD) is a highly transmissible viral infection of cloven hooved animals associated with severe economic losses when introduced into FMD-free countries. Information on the impact of the disease in FMDV-endemic countries is poorly characterised yet essential for the prioritisation of scarce resources for disease control programmes. A FMD (virus serotype SAT2) outbreak on a large-scale dairy farm in Nakuru County, Kenya provided an opportunity to evaluate the impact of FMD on clinical mastitis and culling rate. A cohort approach followed animals over a 12-month period after the commencement of the outbreak. For culling, all animals were included; for mastitis, those over 18 months of age. FMD was recorded in 400/644 cattle over a 29-day period. During the follow-up period 76 animals were culled or died whilst in the over 18 month old cohort 63 developed clinical mastitis. Hazard ratios (HR) were generated using Cox regression accounting for non-proportional hazards by inclusion of time-varying effects. Univariable analysis showed FMD cases were culled sooner but there was no effect on clinical mastitis. After adjusting for possible confounders and inclusion of time-varying effects there was weak evidence to support an effect of FMD on culling (HR = 1.7, 95% confidence intervals [CI] 0.88-3.1, P = 0.12). For mastitis, there was stronger evidence of an increased rate in the first month after the onset of the outbreak (HR = 2.9, 95%CI 0.97-8.9, P = 0.057).Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13567-015-0173-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Highlights
Any disease among livestock creates inefficiency in a production system with negative economic impact to farmers
Indirect losses can be divided into additional costs, such as through the use of vaccines for disease prevention, or lost revenue which may occur if a farm is under quarantine, restricting access to local markets [1]
Foot and mouth disease (FMD) is a viral condition of ruminants characterised by initial pyrexia followed by
Summary
Any disease among livestock creates inefficiency in a production system with negative economic impact to farmers. This impact can be divided into direct and indirect losses [1]. Direct losses are associated with an animal having a disease whose consequences may be immediately visible (e.g. death, abortion) or latent (e.g. reduced fertility). Indirect losses can be divided into additional costs, such as through the use of vaccines for disease prevention, or lost revenue which may occur if a farm is under quarantine, restricting access to local markets [1]. For many animal diseases an accurate estimation of disease impact is difficult due to a lack of available data and the variability of production systems employed around the world.
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