Abstract
<title>Abstract</title> <p>Background Foot and mouth disease (FM) is a highly contagious Transboundary animal disease that causes significant economic losses in cattle. The study objectives were to estimate the seroprevalence of FMD, identifying circulating serotypes in the areas with and without active outbreak report. Methods A cross sectional study and outbreak investigation was performed from October 2023 to May 2025. Semi-structured questionnaire survey was used to assess the community’s KAP toward FMD. The serum samples were tested by using 3ABC-ELISA and circulating serotypes were identified by SPC-ELISA. Tissue sample from active Outbreak area were Cultivated on BHK 21 Cell line and virus genome detected using RT-PCR. The circulating serotypes were identified by Antigen Captured ELISA (IZSLER, Brescia, Italy). Result The overall seroprevalence from 314 cattle was 80.89%. From 254 seropositive serum samples 22 strong seropositives were selected and tested for serotyping. The serotyping result showed concurrently 4 serotypes circulating in South Omo Zone namely, the O, A, SAT2, and SAT1. There was statistically significant difference in seroprevalence in South Omo Zone districts. The district and herd size were identified as significant risk factors associated with FMDV seropositivity. Outbreak investigation relies on 26 epithelial tissue and 2 swab samples collected from 54 cattle showing active clinical sign of FMD. Totally 28 samples were cultivated on BHK21 cell lines for virus isolation and 35.7% (10/28) of the samples were positive for both BHK-21cell monolayer and RT-PCR. For serotyping 10 positives samples for FMDV CPE were used and two circulating serotypes were identified namely, 50.0% (5/10) of serotype O, 30.0% (3/10) of serotypes A, and 20.0% (2/10) of mixed serotypes O/A. KAP survey analysis showed that 95% of respondents do not vaccinate their animal against FMD and do not quarantined their diseased animal. Conclusion and recommendation: FMD is highly important economical disease affecting the animal population in the study area. It was recommended to implement biosecurity principles including quarantine and isolation of the diseased and vaccination of at risk animals to reduce the incidence of disease in the study area.</p>