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.