Epidemiological study and dairy farmers’ knowledge, attitudes, and practices on foot and mouth disease in central Ethiopia

Foot and mouth disease (FMD) is consistently ranked as the most economically significant viral disease and one of the top five livestock diseases in Ethiopia. Although FMD is endemic in Ethiopia, the epidemiology and the farmers' knowledge, attitudes, and practices regarding FMD were poorly quantified. Thus, a cross-sectional study was conducted from November 2021 to April 2022 to estimate the seroprevalence, identify the FMD serotypes, and assess the farmers' knowledge, attitudes, and practices on FMD in Addis Ababa city and Sebeta special zone, central Ethiopia. A total of 384 serum samples were collected from cattle and tested using a 3ABC enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). In this study, an overall 56% seroprevalence was recorded. Two types of FMD serotypes were detected in which serotype O was the dominant serotype (75.5%) followed by serotype A (45.5%). A significantly higher seroprevalence (P = 0.00) was recorded in Addis Ababa (85%) compared to Sebeta (28.7%). Seropositivity in older and semi-intensively managed cattle was 2.9 (95% CI: 1.36–6.50; P = 0.006) and 2.1 (95% CI: 1.34–3.26; P = 0.001) times higher compared to young and intensively managed cattle, respectively. A survey on knowledge, attitude, and practice of 103 farmers revealed that 90.2% knew of FMD and the majority of them can recognize its clinical pictures. However, 12.7% of farmers who knew FMD didn't practice any prevention methods. Additionally, 70% of the farmers responded that their cattle roamed outside of their farms for communal grazing, watering, breeding purposes, and vaccination which might put them more at risk of FMD. The current study demonstrated that the majority of farmers have gaps in biosecurity practices and vaccination of cattle against FMD. Therefore, educating farmers on FMD prevention measures is necessary for successful disease control programs.