Epidemiology and economic impact of foot and mouth disease in Ethiopia: A review

Abstract:

Foot and mouth disease is an economically important trans-boundary viral infection of cloven-hoofed animals caused by virus belonging to genus Apthovirus and family Picornaviridae. FMD has direct and indirect economic consequences on animal production. Ethiopia is now endemic for FMD virus serotype O, A, SAT2 and SAT1 serotypes. The FMD outbreaks in Ethiopia showed a concentration in the central and northern parts of the country. Transmission occurs through direct animal contact and indirect routes, with the virus surviving in the contaminated environment for up to 14 days, indicating indirect transmission. It can cause high number of deaths among young animals and production losses in adult livestock. In Ethiopia, FMD outbreaks have cause to millions of Ethiopian birr losses due to the restriction or rejection of livestock products in the international market. There is no cross-immunity between serotypes, immunity to one type does not confer protection against the others, and this presents difficulties to vaccination programs. Due to the presence of diverse antigenic serotypes of FMD viruses in Ethiopia, regular and extensive molecular investigation of new field isolates is necessary to perform vaccine-matching studies to evaluate the protective potential of the vaccine strain in the country.