Abstract:
Foot and mouth disease (FMD), a highly contagious and economically important
disease of cloven‐hoofed animals, is endemic in Ethiopia. Foot and mouth disease
outbreak investigation and follow‐up studies were undertaken to identify the causa‐
tive serotype, determine the morbidity and mortality, and estimate the economic
impact of the outbreaks in selected districts of Northwest Ethiopia. The serotype
of FMD virus involved in the outbreaks was identified by antigen detection ELISA
from clinical samples. Morbidity, mortality and economic impact of the outbreaks
were assessed based on data collected from 738 smallholder farmers in a mixed
crop‐livestock (MCL) production system and from five dairy farms in the commercial
dairy production system. The outbreaks were confirmed to be due to FMD virus
serotype O. The animal level morbidity in clinically affected cattle herds was 68.1%
for MCL production system and 54.5% for commercial dairy farms. The mortality in
cattle in the MCL system was 0.4% and no mortality was recorded in the commercial
dairy farms. The animal level morbidity in sheep and goats in the infected flocks was
35.7% but no mortality was seen in these species. The herd/flock level morbidity of
FMD in outbreak affected kebeles of MCL system was 57.2% for cattle and 8% for
sheep and goats. The economic losses due to milk loss, draught power loss, mortality
and treatment cost were on average USD 34 (interquartile range: 9.4–44.4) per af‐
fected herd in the MCL system and this was statistically significantly lower than the
USD 459.1 (interquartile range: 400.0–486.2) per affected farm in the commercial
dairy farms (p < .05). These economic losses have significant impact in the livelihood
and income of affected farmers in both production systems. Future work should
focus on the implementation of control measures that mitigate the economic impact
of the disease.
