A randomized controlled field trial assessing foot and mouth disease vaccine effectiveness in Gondar Zuria district, Northwest Ethiopia

• Published in: Preventive veterinary medicine 2020-10, Vol.183, p.105136-105136, Article 105136
• Main Authors: Jemberu, Wudu T., Molla, Wassie, Fentie, Tsegaw
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Animals; Cattle; Cattle Diseases - prevention & control; Effectiveness; Ethiopia; Field trial; Foot and mouth disease; Foot-and-Mouth Disease - prevention & control; Foot-and-Mouth Disease Virus - drug effects; Immunity, Herd; Vaccination - statistics & numerical data; Vaccination - veterinary; Vaccine; Viral Vaccines - therapeutic use
• ISSN: 0167-5877; 1873-1716
• DOI: 10.1016/j.prevetmed.2020.105136

Foot and mouth disease (FMD) is a highly transmissible viral disease of cloven-hoofed animals, which is endemic in many developing countries. Vaccination is the main tool for FMD control in resource limited endemic countries like Ethiopia. Vaccine quality, which is often questionable in developing countries, is a critical element for effective disease control. The present study was aimed at evaluating the field effectiveness of a trivalent FMD vaccine (containing serotypes O, A and SAT 2), produced and widely used in Ethiopia, in terms of preventing clinical infection and severe disease. A randomized controlled field trial design was employed in the study in which the attack rate of clinical FMD infection in vaccinated cattle was compared with the attack rate in unvaccinated controls in cattle population of 16 villages in Gondar Zuria district, Northwest Ethiopia. The vaccine was administered as a single dose course in the face of an impending FMD outbreak and the trial groups were monitored for clinical infection until the end of the outbreak. The attack rate of clinical FMD 20 days post vaccination in the vaccinated cattle (34 %) was significantly lower than the attack rate in the unvaccinated controls (49 %) (p