Analysis of FMD(foot and mouth disease) diffusion route by using GIS in gyeongbuk area

The Foot and Mouth Disease (hereinafter referred to as 'FMD') is a type of acute and febrile infectious disease which occurs when hoofed and even-toed animals (artiodacty) such as cows, pigs, sheep, goats and deer are infected by FMD viruses. FMD viruses have a huge host range and strong invasiveness, as well as wide infection routes. Sensitive individuals may be affected by the disease with a relatively small amount of the infectious virus, while their latent period is quite short. In addition, as the virus is excreted out of the body before the clinical symptoms become apparent, the virus discharged through the respiratory system may spread a fair distance to other individuals via air.(Timoney etc., 1988; Gamer, 2000). Thus, this study aims to analyze and predict the diffusion route of domestic animal contagious diseases to prevent it in consideration of the domestic geographical features such as topography as well as direction and speed of the wind and by means of GIS. Since FMD and the bird flu are contagious through the air, it is of great importance to refer to the wind direction and speed data. GIS was adopted to analyze and predict the diffusion route of FMD in Gyeongsangbukdo area. Based on the data from GIS, the diffusion of FMD would be readily grasped, which is expected to reduce damage to farm houses. In the future, it is thought that the range of analysis in 2010 should be expanded nationwide.