Abstract
Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) is a major infectious disease of cattle and buffaloes in Pakistan that causes heavy economic
losses. Impact of FMD vaccination during the course of the disease outbreak has been assessed based on a field survey
conducted in September-October, 2015. The sample size for the study was 90 livestock farmers from all the provinces of the
country, and Azad Jamu and Kashmir (AJK); including 66 rural and 24 peri-urban farmers. The disease causes decrease in
milk productivity of the affected animals in the range of 60-70 percent during sickness and 40-50 percent after recovery from
the disease. Along with this, deterioration in milk quality, increase in calving interval, animal weight loss, abortion cases, loss
in drought power, distressed sales and mortality are the losses caused by the disease. Recovery of sick animals due to
vaccination was quite satisfactory, more than 90 percent in both cows and buffaloes in rural, as well as in peri-urban livestock
farming systems. Mean time durations for recovery from the disease in cow and buffaloes were 10 and 12 days in peri-urban
areas, and 9 and 7 days in rural areas, respectively. The vaccination was very effective in controlling the disease, as only few
farmers in Punjab and Balochsitan reported new cases of the disease after the vaccination. While, none of the farmers in Sindh,
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and AJK reported outbreak at their farms. Due to vaccination, reduction in severity of the disease was
also reported in the affected animals. It is concluded that FMD vaccination of the animals in the face of outbreak is useful to
curtail further spread of the viruses to healthy animals, and also results in early recovery of the diseased animals.
