Trial location and design
This clinical trial was conducted between the 5th of November and the 5th of December 2019 in Ngaoundere II, Ngaoundere III and Martap subdivisions in the Vina Division of the Adamawa plateau. Around 40% of the cattle population of Cameroon is located in the Adamawa region (MINEPIA, 2013). Ngaoundere is the capital of the Adamawa region, with geo-referenced coordinates between 6° 40’ 0” and 7° 30’ 0” north latitude and between 13° 20’ 0” and 14° 10’ 0”’east longitude (Fig. 1). An FMD outbreak in the municipalities of Ngaoundere II, Ngaoundere III and Martap was advised to the lead author by a field technician in Ngaoundere on the 4th of November 2019. The following day, the outbreak areas were accessed, and the treatment trials commenced immediately. Two teams of two members each were formed to enable animal treatments and follow-up of the treated cases. Participating farms were selected following demonstration of owner willingness to participate, and included: Horé Mayanga, Borongo, Tchabal Baouro and Mbidjoro. The GPS data of all farms was recorded.
As Moore-Oxy® (manufactured in China; MO) was the reference antibiotic commonly used by farmers to manage clinical FMD in the study area, it was decided to compare the efficacy of this formulation on the healing of FMD lesions with that of TS. As MO is administered intra-muscularly and TS is administered topically, on each farm, three animals were matched by age and breed, with similar FMD clinical presentations; with one treated with MO, one with TS and the third left untreated. This created 12 sets of cattle for this comparative clinical trial on the different farms.