title: Prevalence and risk factors for foot and mouth disease infection in small ruminants in Israel.
abstract: During the last decade, 27% of the foot and mouth disease (FMD) outbreaks in Israel affected small ruminant (SR) farms. FMD outbreaks reoccur in Israel despite vaccination of all livestock and application of control measures. We performed a cross-sectional serological study, aimed at estimating the prevalence of FMD infection in SR in Israel and the possible risk factors for infection. Overall, 2305 samples of adult sheep (n=1948) and goats (n=357) were collected during 2011-14 in two separate surveys. One survey was based on random sampling of intensive management system farms and the other was originally aimed at the detection of Brucella melitensis at extensive and semi-intensive management system farms. Sera were tested by NS blocking ELISA (PrioCHECK(®)). The serological prevalence of antibodies against non structural proteins (NSP) of FMD virus was estimated at 3.7% (95% confidence interval (CI95%)=3.0% -4.5%). Additionally, a significantly lower infection prevalence (p value=0.049) of 1.0% (CI95%=0.1%-3.6%) was found in a small sample (197 sera) of young SR, collected during 2012. The positive samples from adult SR were scattered all over Israel, though two significant infection clusters were found by the spatial scan statistic. Occurrence of an outbreak on a non-SR farm within 5km distance was associated with a fifteen times increase in the risk of FMD infection of SR in the univariable analysis. Yet, this variable was not included in the multivariable analysis due to collinearities with the other independent variables. Multivariable logistic regression modeling found significantly negative associations (P value<0.05) of grazing and being in a herd larger than 500 animals with risk of infection. Grazing herds and herds larger than 500 animals, both represent farms that are intensively or semi-intensively managed. Higher maintenance of bio-safety, fewer introductions of new animals and higher vaccination compliance in these farms may explain their lower risk of infection by FMD virus. We conclude that despite the wide distribution of infection among SR farms, low farm level prevalence indicates that in Israel SR pose only limited role in the transmission and dissemination of FMD. This conclusion may be applicable for other endemic countries in which, similar to Israel, all livestock are vaccinated against FMD.
authors.affiliation: Koret School of Veterinary Medicine, The Robert H. Smith Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Environment, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, POB 12, Rehovot 76100, Israel.
authors.forename: Ehud
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Elnekave
authors.affiliation: The European Commission for the Control of Foot-and-Mouth Disease (EUFMD), Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Italy.
authors.forename: Kees
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: van Maanen
authors.affiliation: Koret School of Veterinary Medicine, The Robert H. Smith Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Environment, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, POB 12, Rehovot 76100, Israel.
authors.forename: Hila
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Shilo
authors.affiliation: Kimron Veterinary Institute, The Foot and Mouth Disease laboratory, Beit Dagan, Israel.
authors.forename: Boris
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Gelman
authors.affiliation: Kimron Veterinary Institute, The Foot and Mouth Disease laboratory, Beit Dagan, Israel.
authors.forename: Nick
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Storm
authors.affiliation: Kimron Veterinary Institute, Brucellosis referent laboratory, Beit Dagan, Israel.
authors.forename: Svetlane
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Berdenstain
authors.affiliation: Department of Population Medicine, Ontario Veterinary College, University of Guelph, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Olaf
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Berke
authors.affiliation: Koret School of Veterinary Medicine, The Robert H. Smith Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Environment, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, POB 12, Rehovot 76100, Israel. Electronic address: eyal.klement@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Eyal
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Klement
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017347:Brucella melitensis; D002006:Brucellosis; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004196:Disease Outbreaks / Q000662:veterinary; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay / Q000662:veterinary; D005260:Female; D005536:Foot-and-Mouth Disease / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000821:virology; D029544:Foot-and-Mouth Disease Virus / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D015511:Goat Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000821:virology; D006041:Goats; D007557:Israel / Q000453:epidemiology; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D016036:Seroepidemiologic Studies; D012756:Sheep; D012757:Sheep Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000821:virology; D017361:Viral Nonstructural Proteins / Q000032:analysis
chemical_list: D017361:Viral Nonstructural Proteins
keywords: FMD; Goats; Non structural proteins; Prevalence; Risk factors; Sheep