OS20 Online 17 December

1. 1EuFMD | Open Session special edition | #OS20se
Polly Compston
Royal Veterinary College / UK
How do you define a foot-and-mouth
disease outbreak in an endemic context?
A case study from Nakuru County, Kenya

2. 2EuFMD | Open Session special edition | #OS20se
Understanding whether
frequency of disease is
changing is an important
component of any disease
control programme
Therefore the way in which
disease frequency is
measured should be
consistent between
different stakeholders
This study aimed to
understand the working
definition of an foot-and-
mouth disease FMD
“outbreak” in Nakuru, Kenya
• Data collected during a workshop with
local government veterinarians
• Secondary data collected from county
and national government veterinary
departments and intergovernmental
websites
National disease
control plan
Time
Numberofoutbreaks

3. 3
Local government
veterinarians described
an “outbreak” in one of
two ways: “controlled” or
“persistent”
There were several discrepancies in the way an
“outbreak” was described or recorded
National and county
laboratories categorise
an outbreak differently
depending on sample
serotyping
Different
intergovernmental
organisations report
different national
outbreak numbers online

4. 4EuFMD | Open Session special edition | #OS20se
A clear,
standardised
outbreak
definition was
not used in this
context
Inconsistent outbreak reporting suggests disease
control programmes may be based on inaccurate
or incomplete data
An agreed outbreak definition would support
progression through the Progressive Control
Pathway for FMD
Uniform outbreak description would enhance
harmonisation of discussions about disease control

5. eufmdvirtual.com
8, 10, 15, 17 December 2020
EuFMD / Open Session