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Use and abuse of mathematical models: an illustration from the 2001 foot and mouth disease epidemic in the United Kingdom

Kitching, R. P., Thrusfield, M. and Taylor, N. M. (2006) Use and abuse of mathematical models: an illustration from the 2001 foot and mouth disease epidemic in the United Kingdom. Revue Scientifique Et Technique-Office International Des Epizooties, 25 (1). pp. 293-311. ISSN 0253-1933

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Abstract/Summary

Foot and mouth disease (FMD) is a major threat, not only to countries whose economies rely on agricultural exports, but also to industrialised countries that maintain a healthy domestic livestock industry by eliminating major infectious diseases from their livestock populations. Traditional methods of controlling diseases such as FMD require the rapid detection and slaughter of infected animals, and any susceptible animals with which they may have been in contact, either directly or indirectly. During the 2001 epidemic of FMD in the United Kingdom (UK), this approach was supplemented by a culling policy driven by unvalidated predictive models. The epidemic and its control resulted in the death of approximately ten million animals, public disgust with the magnitude of the slaughter, and political resolve to adopt alternative options, notably including vaccination, to control any future epidemics. The UK experience provides a salutary warning of how models can be abused in the interests of scientific opportunism.

Item Type:Article
Refereed:Yes
Divisions:Life Sciences > School of Agriculture, Policy and Development
ID Code:8791
Uncontrolled Keywords:culling, epidemiology, foot and mouth disease, infectivity, mathematical model, modelling, slaughter, stamping out, transmission, United Kingdom, virus spread, GREAT-BRITAIN, INFECTIOUS-DISEASES, INCUBATION PERIOD, AIRBORNE SPREAD, CARRIER STATE, UK FOOT, VIRUS, OUTBREAK, SHEEP, PREMISES

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