Data collection and analysis
Data on basic descriptive epidemiology such as animal species affected, farm size, age of animals, and milk production and pregnancy status were recorded from the affected farms in the suspect outbreak area. Besides, clinical features of individual animals such as the fever during the time of visit, nodular lesions in the skin, nasal and lachrymal discharges, the swelling status of lymph nodes, and reduction in milk production were recorded by interviewing with the farmers, physical examination and observation. Besides, farm characteristics such as the status of the presence of the vectors and history of the introduction of new cattle or buffalo in the farm within the past six months were also recorded.
The collected data were entered in Microsoft Excel 2016 and analyzed using the Epi Info software 7.2.3.1 (https://www.cdc.gov/epiinfo/index.html). Summary statistics such as the mean, median, minimum, and maximum were calculated for a continuous variable for example age of animals and loss in milk production. Frequency and percentage with 95% confidence interval were calculated for binary variables such as the presence or absence of clinical and epidemiological features at an individual animal or farm level. A map of the study area was created using an ArcGIS 10.4 version.