Quantitative Risk Assessment on FMD Introduced into China via Smuggled Live Cattle across China-Myanmar Border in Yunnan Province
As being affected by the need and price in domestic markets,activities of smuggling live cattle have continued in Yunnan frontier areas bordering Myanmar and Laos in spite of repeated prohibition,which have posed an important risk pathway for foot and mouth disease(FMD)to be introduced into China. In order to analyze the probability of FMD introduced into China via smuggled live cattle across China-Myanmar border in Yunnan Province,collect the information concerning the pathways,routes and quantity of illegally imported live cattle,a stochastic model of entry risk was established and analyzed by the“scene tree”. The results showed that when one cattle was smuggled via the border,the probability to introduce FMD into China was 0.81%(95%CI,0.43%–1.47%),what was worse,about 14 017 cattle(95%CI,720–25 660 cattle)infected with FMD were smuggled into Yunnan Province every year;and such risk depended on the prevalence in cattle markets in northern Myanmar. It was concluded that the probability to introduce FMD into China through smuggling live cattle from Myanmar should not be ignored. In view of the above,the live cattle that were from or transit via Myanmar should be vaccinated against FMD prior to entry,and slaughtered under effective supervision by local authorities;and frozen boneless meat that conformed to China's import inspection standards should be allowed to be imported from Southeast Asian countries. In the study,the risk to introduce FMD into China via China-Myanmar border was quantitatively evaluated for the first time,which provided important information and data for the prevention and control of FMD in China.