Contain Foot and Mouth
Rapid vaccination needed in outbreak
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Using the North American Animal Disease Spread Model (NAADM), Midwest researchers say vaccination for Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) would have to be done rapidly to curtail the disease.
The researchers from veterinary schools in Illinois, Kansas and Minnesota simulated how fast FMD would spread if 50 dairy herds versus 1,500 herds were vaccinated per day after an outbreak occurred.
When only 50 herds were vaccinated per day after an outbreak, the model suggests the average number of animals infected with FMD ranged from 30,000 to 88,000 head. But when 1,500 herds were vaccinated per day, the number of infected animals was less than 20,000.
It’s easier said than done to have enough of the vaccine with the proper FMD strain available and mobilize such an effort. But the simulation study does show an FMD outbreak could be contained, and the majority of dairy cattle protected, with a rapid and widespread vaccination effort.
