The role of management segregations in controlling intra-herd foot-and-mouth disease

Transmission of foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) by aerosol spread can occur over considerable distances. However, this is less effective in hot, dry environmental conditions, and a detailed study of an outbreak within a large dairy herd in Saudi Arabia has shown that contact spread is the main mode of transmission within a herd: both physical and spatial barriers curtailed the course of disease across the farm. Hence, the speed and path of an outbreak can be altered by changing the positioning of spatial or physical barriers. Extending the distances between pens, increasing the number of farm pens, decreasing the number of animals within the pens, and placing pens of well-protected stock between those of susceptible stock, can all contribute to the control of FMD involving contact and short-distance aerosol spread. Such management techniques offer a cost-effective supplement to control by vaccination.