Foot-and-mouth disease and its effect on milk yield: an economic analysis on livestock holders in Pakistan.

A longitudinal study has been conducted in the provinces of Sindh, Punjab and Islamabad Capital Territory area, Pakistan, to evaluate the impact of foot-and-mouth disease on milk yield in a sample of farmers owning cattle and buffaloes. The sample consisted of 50 farms where the presence of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) virus was initially suspected on the basis of clinical signs and subsequently confirmed through either a field test or laboratory confirmation. In each farm, the total number of clinical cases was registered, and clinically diseased milking cattle and buffaloes were followed up for the next 60 days from the onset of clinical signs and the amount of milk yield measured. The average milk yield, estimated to be around 10 l per animal before the onset of FMD, decreased significantly in the 2 months following the onset of acute clinical disease. The loss of milk production in the 60 days following the onset of clinical signs was estimated to be around 220 and 201 l for cattle and buffaloes, respectively. Under the assumption that the administration of a good-quality vaccine matching circulating FMD strains could protect against clinical disease, the benefit/cost ratio for having all animals vaccinated in all 50 farms was estimated to be 5.7.