Phylogeographic analysis of the 2000–2002 foot-and-mouth disease epidemic in Argentina

Abstract

Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is a highly transmissible disease of hooved livestock. Although FMD has been eradicated from many countries, economic and social consequences of FMD reintroductions are devastating. After achieving disease eradication, Argentina was affected by a major epidemic in 2000-2002, and within few months, FMD virus spread throughout most of the country and affected >2500 herds. Available records and viral strains allowed us to assess the origins, spread and progression of this FMD epidemic, which remained uncertain. We used whole genome viral sequences and a continuous phylogeographic diffusion approach, which revealed that the viruses that caused the outbreaks spread fast in different directions from a central area in Argentina. The analysis also suggests that the virus that caused the outbreaks in the year 2000 was different from those found during the 2001 epidemic. To estimate if the approximate overall genetic diversity of the virus was related to disease transmission, we reconstructed the viral demographic variation in time using Bayesian Skygrid approach and compared it with the epidemic curve and the within-herd transmission rate and showed that the genetic temporal diversity of the virus was associated with the increasing number of outbreaks in the exponential phase of the epidemic. Results here provide new evidence of how the disease entered and spread throughout the country. We further demonstrate that genetic data collected during a FMD epidemic can be informative indicators of the progression of an ongoing epidemic.

Temporal Geospatial Mapping of Foot and Mouth Disease Outbreak in Aceh, Indonesia

“…India and Bangladesh, both countries, also had cyclical and seasonal patterns over ten years post-monsoon (Rahman et al, 2020;Sharma and Singh, 1993). Other South American countries, like Brazil and Argentina, have also experienced cyclical and seasonal patterns of FMD outbreaks despite significant improvements in disease control through vaccine campaigns and stringent biosecurity measures (Brito et al, 2016;Rivera et al, 2023).…”

Identification of diffusion routes of O/EA‐3 topotype of foot‐and‐mouth disease virus in Africa and Western Asia between 1974 and 2019 – a phylogeographic analysis

“…Foot‐and‐mouth disease (FMD) is a transboundary threat that affects livestock production of cloven‐hoofed species, causing production losses, mortality of young stock and continued costs associated with FMD vaccination (FAO, Cameroon, 2015 ) and restriction of animal trade (Grubman & Baxt, 2004 ; Knight‐Jones & Rushton, 2013 ; Perry & Rich, 2007 ; Tekleghiorghis et al., 2016 ). The disease is characterized by rapid diffusion and is present in parts of South America, Asia and across a wide geographical distribution in Africa, where pastoralism and unrestricted movement of livestock favour the dissemination of the causative agent, foot‐and‐mouth disease virus (FMDV) (Bertram et al., 2018 ; Brito et al., 2016 ; Di Nardo et al., 2011 ; Lazarus et al., 2012 ). FMDV, a member of the Picornaviridae family, has a single positive‐strand RNA genome which is replicated by the RNA‐dependent viral polymerase through a rapid and low‐fidelity process (Morelli et al., 2013 ; Steinhauer & Holland, 1987 ).…”

“…FMDV genomic RNA is particularly appropriate for phylogenetic analysis as this RNA virus of about 8500 nucleotides (nt) can change rapidly, accruing mutations of ∼1–8 nt per replication cycle (Domingo et al., 1995 , 2002 ). The 1D FMDV genome region coding for an outer capsid protein (VP1) bears the most varied part of the genome, and is therefore frequently used for molecular epidemiological analyses (Brito et al., 2016 ; Ehizibolo et al., 2020 ; Pedersen et al., 2015 ; Sangula et al., 2010 ; Wekesa et al., 2014 ). Understanding the global dispersion of FMDV by tracking its viral evolution with phylogeographic models can help to reconstruct the disease spread from endemic regions and potentially predict the risks of incursion into FMD‐free countries (Dellicour et al., 2018 ; Lemey et al., 2009 ).…”

SIRS contagion model of food safety risk

“…And the epidemic model was proposed based on the complex network theory, which was applied in analyzing the complex problems of economic system. Studies on the network epidemic model have been extensively used in biological and ecological applications (Brito et al, 2016;Carter & Prince, 1981;Tong et al, 2015). The network epidemic model is being gradually extended to the field of Social Science, such as in technology and innovation diffusion (Rode & Weber, 2016;Sven & Johannes, 2013), financial risk contagion (Chen & He, 2012;Chen, He, & Li, 2017;Chen, Li, & Wang, 2015;Derbali & Hallara, 2016;Feng & Hu, 2013), and rumor spreading (Giorno & Spina, 2016;Hosseini & Azgomi, 2016).…”