Spatial pattern of foot-and-mouth disease in animals in China, 2010–2016

Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is a highly contagious disease of cloven-hoofed animals. An outbreak of FMD can produce devastating economic losses for a considerable length of time. In order to investigate the distribution characteristics of FMD in China, data from 2010 to 2016 were collected, including information on 65 outbreaks of FMD (25 by serotype A and 40 by serotype O), and 5,937 diseased animals (1,691 serotype A and 4,284 serotype O cases). Spatial autocorrelation, including global spatial autocorrelation and local spatial autocorrelation, as well as directional distribution analysis, were performed. Global spatial autocorrelation analysis of FMD cases from 2010 to 2016 did not show clustering (P > 0.05). In 2013 and 2014, the FMD serotype A hotspots areas were Tibet (Z = 3.3236, P < 0.001 in 2013; Z = 3.2001, P < 0.001 in 2014) and Xinjiang provinces (Z = 4.2113, P < 0.001 in 2013; Z = 3.9888, P < 0.001 in 2014). The FMD serotype O hotspots areas were: Xinjiang (Z = 2.5832, P = 0.0098) province in 2010; Tibet (Z = 3.8814, P < 0.001) and Xinjiang (Z = 4.9128, P < 0.001) provinces in 2011; and Tibet (Z = 3.0838, P = 0.0020), Xinjiang (Z = 3.8705, P < 0.001) and Qinghai (Z = 2.8875, P = 0.0039) provinces in 2013. The distribution of FMD cases from 2010 to 2016 showed a significant directional trend (northwest-southeast). In conclusion, our findings revealed the spatial patterns of FMD cases, which may provide beneficial information for the prevention and control of FMD.