Impact of livestock production type vaccination priority order on the control of a foot and mouth disease outbreak in the central United States

Abstract

The central United States (US) has a large livestock population including cattle, swine, sheep, and goats that are fully susceptible to foot and mouth disease (FMD). Introduction of FMD to the US would have potentially devastating consequences to the livestock industry. Identification of optimal control measures including potential vaccination strategies is essential to minimize the impact of a FMD outbreak. Both dairy and large feedlot operations have frequent indirect contacts, which make them key production types for FMD transmission and thus should be the focus of control strategies. To address this issue, we developed simulation scenarios to assess the impact of livestock production type vaccination priority on FMD outbreaks using the North American Animal Disease Spread Model (NAADSM), a spatially explicit, stochastic infectious disease model.