RESEARCH ARTICLE Risk factors for the transmi u

Full list of author information is available at the end of the articleBackground Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is a highly contagious viral disease affecting cloven-hoofed animals. Characteris-tic clinical signs of FMD include pyrexia, salivation, and lameness, with vesicles and erosions in the mouth, on the feet, and on the teats [1-3]. Once FMD invades a FMD-free country, susceptible animals on infected farms and surrounding areas are often culled to eradicate the disease. This causes serious economic losses to farmers and live-stock industries, both from direct losses and the suspen-sion of international trade in animal products. In April 2010, there was a large-scale FMD outbreak in Miyazaki Prefecture in Japan. Miyazaki Prefecture was the primary livestock production area of the country [4], with 315,000 cattle at a density of 165.0 farms/100 km2 and 915,000 pigs at a density of 9.8 farms/100 km2. A total of 292 infected farms were detected before the last case o