The epidemiology of foot-and-mouth disease outbreaks and its history in Iraq

Vet World Vol.12 May-2019 Article-13

Research Article

Veterinary World, 12(5): 706-712

https://doi.org/10.14202/vetworld.2019.706-712

Karima Akool Al-Salihi

Department of Internal and Preventive Medicine, College of Veterinary Medicine, Al-Muthanna University, Al-Muthanna, Iraq.

Background and Aim:

Materials and Methods: The reported data regarding FMD cases were collected from veterinary hospitals in 15 Iraqi governorates and were analyzed.

Results: The results revealed annual FMD outbreaks in cow, buffalo, and small ruminants in Iraqi governorates with variability in the numbers of the infected and dead animals. The total number of infected animals increased in 2016 compared to 2015 due to the illegal importation of FMD-infected cows at the end of 2015. The prevalence rates of FMD were 68.7%, 46.6%, and 30.3% in cattle, buffalo, and small ruminants, respectively, in 2016, while this was 18.4%, 19.9%, and 17.3%, respectively, in 2015.

Conclusion: This study approved the reemergence and endemic nature of FMD in Iraqi livestock. Prompt procedures and a new future strategy need to be implemented to control the increasing incidences of FMD in Iraq. Keywords: Baghdad, Bashder checkpoint, foot-and-mouth disease, Iraq, Nineveh governorate.

Keywords: Baghdad, Bashder checkpoint, foot-and-mouth disease, Iraq, Nineveh governorate.

How to cite this article: Al-Salihi KA (2019) The epidemiology of foot-and-mouth disease outbreaks and its history in Iraq, Veterinary World, 12(5): 706-712.

Received: 18-12-2018 Accepted: 02-04-2019 Published online: 25-05-2019

Corresponding author: Karima Akool Al-Salihi E-mail: kama_akool18@yahoo.co.uk

DOI: 10.14202/vetworld.2019.706-712

Copyright: Al-Salihi, et al. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http:// creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.