When investigating the influence of environmental
and demographic characteristics on Foot and Mouth Disease
(FMD) distribution, Málaga (1976) found that the
temporal risk was directly related to animal movement.
Geo-referencing has been recommended as a tool on
which to base decisions in animal health programs, as
well as to reduce costs and minimize the impact of a
disease incursion (Morris et al., 2002) using the example
of FMD. The motivation for this study was the development
of a national database, including geo-referencing,
which greatly enhances the power for decision-support tools that can be applied as soon as a serious infectious
threat is detected. These tools include procedures
to detect infected herds promptly, to protect uninfected
farms against virus exposure and also to manage control
policies.