Potential risk associated with animal culling and disposal during the foot-and-mouth disease epidemic in Japan in 2010

Abstract

The large-scale foot-and-mouth (FMD) outbreak in 2010 in Japan presented logistical challenges in conducting animal culling and disposal. During the epidemic, culling of animals on infected farms was delayed owing to the difficulties in finding suitable burial sites. In this study, a retrospective matched case–control study was conducted to investigate the potential transmission risk associated with carcass disposal by considering the geographical relationship between farms and burial sites. The results showed that burial sites and transportation routes used for carcass disposal were not significant infection sources to the neighboring farms. However, infectious farms within 500m, particularly, pig infected farms, posed a significant transmission risk to the neighboring farms. Implementation of strict bio-security measures during carcass disposal operation is essential to reduce the risk of disease transmission to neighboring farms.