Epidemiological study of foot and mouth disease in livestock of district Lakki Marwat, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan

Abstract

Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is an infectious viral disease of cloven-footed animals. It is widespread in Pakistan with huge economic losses. The chief objective of the study was to estimate the sero-prevalence of FMD in livestock in district Lakki Marwat, southern part of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Pakistan. 376 blood samples were randomly collected from livestock (large and small ruminants) from December 2017 to April 2018 to examine the prevalence of FMD. The current study indicated that overall FMD in Livestock was 14.31% with 16.37% in small ruminants and 12% in large ruminants. A significant difference in sero-positivity was observed in small, young and adult of both small and large ruminants. The sero-positivity was highest in adult animals (20.33% in small ruminants and 13.63% in large ruminants) followed by young animals (15.45% small ruminants and 12.5% large ruminants). FMD viral activity both in small and large ruminants were high in the month of December (20% small ruminants and 16% large ruminants) followed by January, February, March, April and May. The Seroprevalence of FMD was significantly lower in both small and large ruminants having good health status (16.35% in small and 10% in large ruminants) while high in those having weak health status (17.91% in small and 15.7% in large ruminants). The higher sero-prevalence of disease has substantial economic implications which signify the need for devising effective control measures.