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Abstract

Foot and mouth disease (FMD) is a highly contagious viral disease of even-toed ungulates and is endemic in most of the tropics. A cross-sectional study using a stratified, two-stage random sample design was undertaken in the Adamawa Province of Cameroon. The objectives were to measure the reported herd-level prevalence of FMD and a range of husbandry practices important for its transmission. The owner-reported prevalence for the previous 12 months was 57.9% (50.4-65.4%), although there was a significant variation across the Province. During the previous dry season, 46.5% (38.6-54.4%) of herds had gone on transhumance. Herds had high numbers of contacts with other herds while on transhumance (98.6%), at pasture (95.8%) and at night (74.4%), with medians of 7-10, 4-6 and 1-3 daily contacts, respectively. The high level of endemic FMD and potential for disease spread presents a significant challenge for control and eradication. Locally sustainable methods need to be developed upon which larger regional control programmes could be built in the future.

Reconstructing Geographical Movements and Host Species Transitions of Foot-and-Mouth Disease Virus Serotype SAT 2

“…The sampling is effectively opportunistic and markedly unbalanced, and the exact effect of this on the discrete-trait inference methods used here for both geography and host species is unclear and warrants investigation in its own right. This makes the results of the host species analysis in particular somewhat incomplete, first because very few countries have available sequences from both cattle and wild animals and second because no sequences at all are available from sheep or goats, despite the hypothesis that they play an important role in the maintenance of FMDV populations (19). In addition, use of simply the country of origin as a location state gives coarse resolution; a lack of links between locations may be simply the result of a lack of sampling in areas sufficiently close to the relevant borders, but restricting to only those sequences where more-detailed location information is available would have greatly decreased the size of the data set.…”

“…In this scenario the virus persisted in the region following the 2000 outbreak or even was present before that. If true, then the virus is likely to have been maintained in sheep or goats, species in which clinical disease is less likely to be apparent (19). Sheep populations have previously been implicated in maintaining FMDV in these areas (30, 31).…”

Seroepidemiology of Bovine Viral Diarrhoea Virus (BVDV) in the Adamawa Region of Cameroon and Use of the SPOT Test to Identify Herds with PI Calves

“…The study population has been described in detail [13]. Briefly, the study area was the Adamawa Region of Cameroon, an area of approximately lying between latitudes and (Figure 1).…”

“…Most herds () are grazed on communal land and between 15–40% of herds are fenced at night. Contacts with other herds vary according to husbandry activities but on an average day on transhumance a herd might contact 7–10 other herds compared to 4–6 at the home pasture and 1–3 at the watering points[13]. There was no licence to import BVDV vaccines at the time of the study and herdsmen did not report using any vaccines other than those required by the Cameroon government.…”

Molecular epidemiology of Mycobacterium bovis in Cameroon

“…Their cattle are generally managed in herds of 50–70 animals and grazed in an extensive system with communal unmanaged pastureland 6 . Herds mix with varying number of neighbouring herds at grazing and watering points and have low levels of contact with wildlife such as antelopes and buffalo.…”