The 2010 Foot-and-Mouth Disease Epidemic in Japan

Abstract

ABSTRACT. Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) occurred recently for the first time in a decade in Japan. The index case was detected on a beef-breeding farm in Miyazaki Prefecture, Southern Japan, on April 20, 2010. After confirmation of this first case, control measures such as stamping out, movement restriction and disinfection were implemented. However, these strategies proved insufficient to prevent the spread of FMD and emergency vaccination was adopted. Up until the last outbreak on July 4, 2010, a total of 292 outbreaks had been confirmed, with about 290,000 animals having been culled. The epidemic occurred in an area with a high density of cattle and pigs, making disease control difficult. Invasion of the disease into a high-density area aided its rapid spread and led to difficulties in locating suitable burial sites. Epidemiological investigations indicated that the disease was introduced into Japan approximately one month before detection. This delay in initial detection is considered to have allowed an increased number of outbreaks in the early stage of the epidemic. Nevertheless, the epidemic was contained within a localized area in Miyazaki Prefecture and was eradicated within three months because of intensive control efforts including emergency vaccination. Although this epidemic devastated the livestock industry in Japan, many lessons can be learnt for the future prevention and control of infectious diseases in animals.

Comparative Evaluation of Three Commercial ELISA Kits for Detection of Antibodies to a Nonstructural Protein of Foot-and-Mouth Disease Virus

“…Our preliminary serological examination showed that the r 1 value between the O Manisa strain and the O/JPN/2010 strain isolated in the 2010 epidemic in Japan was greater than 0.3 (unpublished data). In fact, the number of FMD cases was gradually reduced in the epidemic, after emergency vaccination was practiced as one of the control measures [7].…”

“…In 2010, FMD occurred in Japan for the first time since 2000 [5,7]. Emergency vaccination was carried out as one of the control measures, and approximately eighty thousand vaccinated animals were destroyed.…”

Aboveground burial for managing catastrophic losses of livestock

“…Dramatic photos of cattle burning in open pyres during the 2001 FMD outbreak the United Kingdom resulted in widespread public opposition to open burning. In Japan, the lack of acceptable burial sites resulted in delays in disease eradication efforts and required the Japanese government to implement a vaccinate-to-kill strategy [10]. South Korea's disease eradication efforts resulted in the destruction of 20% of the country's livestock and the creation of 4700 burial sites [11].…”

Early Adaptive Immune Responses in the Respiratory Tract of Foot-and-Mouth Disease Virus-Infected Cattle

“…Although fatal cases usually occur in young animals, the high transmissibility and morbidity observed in adult animals infected by the FMD virus (FMDV) result in major economic losses to the livestock industry during disease outbreaks (1). The potentially devastating economic, social, and environmental consequences of the disease have been demonstrated dramatically during the last 2 decades by a number of different outbreaks of the disease reported around the world (2)(3)(4).…”