Knowledge and risk factors for foot-and-mouth disease among small-scale dairy farmers in an endemic setting

Nyaguthii, D. M., Armson, B., Kitala, P. M., Sanz-Bernardo, B., Di Nardo, A. and Lyons, N. A. (2019) Knowledge and risk factors for foot-and-mouth disease among small-scale dairy farmers in an endemic setting. Veterinary Research, 50, 33. (doi: 10.1186/s13567-019-0652-0) (PMID:31088554) (PMCID:PMC6518695)

Abstract

Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is a highly contagious viral infection of cloven-hoofed animals. In Kenya, the disease is endemic with outbreaks typically occurring throughout the year. A cross-sectional study was undertaken in Nakuru County to investigate farmer knowledge and risk factors for clinical disease. Semi-structured interviews were conducted on 220 smallholder farmers, selected using random spatial sampling. The majority of respondents (207/220 [94.1%]) knew of FMD and 166/207 (80.2%) of them could correctly identify the disease based on their knowledge of the clinical signs. Forty-five out of 220 farmers (20.4%) vaccinated their livestock against FMD in the previous 6 months, although of those who knew of FMD only 96/207 (46.4%) perceived it as a preventive measure undertaken to reduce the risk of disease in their farm. FMD had occurred in 5.9% of the surveyed farms within the previous 6 months (from May to November 2016). Using multivariate analysis, the use of a shared bull (OR = 9.7; p = 0.014) and the number of sheep owned (for each additional sheep owned OR = 1.1; p = 0.066) were associated with an increased likelihood of a farm experiencing a case of FMD in the previous 6 months, although the evidence for the latter was weak. This study reports risk factors associated with clinical FMD at the farm level in a densely populated smallholder farming area of Kenya. These results can be used to inform the development of risk-based strategic plans for FMD control and as a baseline for evaluating interventions and control strategies.

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: This work was funded by the US Department of Homeland Security through Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory as part of a larger study on milk-based surveillance for FMD. NL is supported by a Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC—United Kingdom) funded fellowship (Grant Code: BB/E/I/00007004). ADN is supported by the United Kingdom Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) (Grant Code: SE2943). BA is supported by a Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) CASE PhD studentship (1646343).
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Armson, Bryony
• Authors: Nyaguthii, D. M., Armson, B., Kitala, P. M., Sanz-Bernardo, B., Di Nardo, A., and Lyons, N. A.
• College/School: College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Biodiversity, One Health & Veterinary Medicine
• Journal Name: Veterinary Research
• Publisher: BioMed Central
• ISSN: 0928-4249
• ISSN (Online): 1297-9716
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2019 The Authors
• First Published: First published in Veterinary Research 50: 33
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons License