An Epidemiological Analysis of Foot and Mouth Disease Outbreak in Taiwan Using Geographic Information System

Abstract

Porcine foot and mouth disease (FMD) outbreaks in Taiwan between March and April 1997, were investigated using a geographic information system (GIS). The prevalence of the infected pigs and infected farms increased linearly, being more than 60% and 20%, respectively, on May 8, and all the prefectures were contaminated with the virus by May 3. The case fatality rate of nearly 20% was unusually high for the FMD outbreaks in pigs. The outbreak seemed to have started from the southern and northern parts of Taiwan and later spread to the central and eastern regions of Taiwan. Higher pig densities were considered to be a major factor for virus transmission and prevalence. The high slaughtering rates including suspected herds, in the early stage, restriction of animal transportation and rapid circulation of the disease information, were considered to be important for preventing the spread of infections.