A Retrospective Study on Foot and Mouth Disease Outbreaks and Vaccination during 2017-2023, North Shewa, Ethiopia

Yitayew, Zelalem (2026) A Retrospective Study on Foot and Mouth Disease Outbreaks and Vaccination during 2017-2023, North Shewa, Ethiopia. World's Veterinary Journal. 551 - 559. ISSN 23224568

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Abstract

Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is a highly contagious viral disease that reduces livestock productivity in Ethiopia. The present study aimed to assess the spatial and temporal patterns of FMD outbreaks and associated morbidity, mortality, case-fatality rates, and vaccination coverage in the North Shewa Zone from 2017 to 2023. Data were collected from the Disease Outbreak and Vaccination Activities Reports (DOVAR) of the North Shewa Zone Livestock Office and analyzed using descriptive statistics. A total of 162 outbreaks were recorded across 24 districts and 374 peasant associations (PAs) over the study period, resulting in an overall outbreak proportion of 43.4 (162/374 PAs), with considerable variation between years. The highest number of outbreaks was recorded in 2023 (30.9), followed by 2021 (22.2), while the lowest was in 2020. Overall, there were 5,246 recorded FMD cases and 67 deaths among 269,704 cattle at risk, yielding morbidity, mortality, and case-fatality rates of 1.95, 0.02, and 1.28, respectively. Outbreak occurrence differed by season, peaking in the dry season (October to January) at 57 and reaching its lowest in the rainy season (June to September) at 21. Morbidity and mortality were highest in the dry season (3.05 and 0.05, respectively). Outbreaks and cases were unevenly distributed across districts, with BassonaWorana, Midda, and Menz-Gera reporting the highest outbreak frequencies, while Merhabet and Siyadeber exhibited relatively higher morbidity rates relative to their cattle populations. Over the seven years, vaccine coverage was limited, reaching only 12.3 of the at-risk population. Years with a high incidence of FMD were generally correlated with low vaccination coverage. Endemic FMD across the North Shewa Zone, along with increasing outbreaks, dry-season peaks, district hotspots, and inadequate vaccination coverage, highlighted FMD as a significant obstacle to livestock productivity. The results indicated the critical need for targeted vaccination programs and strengthened control strategies, particularly in high-risk districts. © The Author(s) 2026 CC BY Open Access: This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

Item Type:	Article
Keywords:	Epidemiology; Foot and mouth disease; Morbidity; Mortality; Outbreak; Vaccination
Subjects:	S Agriculture > SF Animal culture
Divisions:	World's Veterinary Journal (WVJ)
Page Range:	551 - 559
Journal or Publication Title:	World's Veterinary Journal
Journal Index:	Scopus
Volume:	16
Number:	2
Publisher:	Scienceline Publication
Identification Number:	https://doi.org/10.54203/scil.2026.wvj52
ISSN:	23224568
Depositing User:	Dr. Alireza Sadeghi
URI:	https://eprints.science-line.com/id/eprint/1738

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