Spatial and Temporal Distribution of Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) Outbreaks

Foot and mouth disease (FMD) is an economically important transboundary viral infection of cloven-hoofed animals caused by foot and mouth disease virus belonging to the genus Aphthovirus & family Picornaviridae. It is a well-customary endemic infection globally since it was first time isolated in 1957. Ten (10) years (January 2011-December 2020) retrospective study was a shepherd with key objectives of recognizing the spatial & temporal distribution and forecasting the future patterns of FMD explosions in West Hararghe Zone (WHZ) of Eastern Ethiopia using data from outbreak reports obtained from Hirna Regional Veterinary Laboratory. Totality 45 FMD upsurges were noted to occur in WHZ between 2011 and 2020 with a mean & median of 4.5 & 3.5 upsurges every year, respectively. In that period, the FMD outbreak was noted at least once in each district of the Zone. The average prevalence of FMD explosions in the district area was 1.12 district year. The prevalence differed among districts, the lowest being in Anchar (0.68/10 district year) & highest in Chiro town (1.77/10 district year) and The long-period tendency of FMD explosions indicated a statistically significant increase over 10 years period (p<0.001). The level of the outbreak reached its peak in March & the low in June to August. The existence of FMD explosion was got to be seasonal whereby the levels of upsurges were relatively high during the hot season. The spatial & temporal disposition identified in this work showed those risky areas that are prone to the contingency of FMD upsurges & the time period in which they predominantly occur. The unregulated & frequent cattle movements could have been the likely basis of the increased level of upsurge contingency during the hot season. Therefore, animal movement biosafety regulations should be taken for the long-time benchmark of FMD in WHZ.