Saturday, May 8, 2010

11th outbreak of foot-and-mouth verified

2010/05/08 11:34
Korea’s Food Ministry confirmed a new outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease yesterday at a cattle farm in Cheongyang, South Chungcheong, the 11th since the first reappearance of the disease here on April 9.

The Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries said that a cow at the farm started showing symptoms of the illness, including blisters on the nose, on Thursday, and that tests conducted by the National Veterinary Research and Quarantine Service were positive.


An official with the South Chungcheong Province government said quarantine officials “have culled the 20 animals raised at the farm, as well as some 80 other animals raised at eight other cattle farms within a 500-meter [547-yard] radius.”


The location of the latest confirmed outbreak is just 3.2 kilometers (2.0 miles) from the region’s state-run livestock and veterinary science institute, which confirmed an outbreak just last week.

The proximity raises concerns about Korea’s quarantine measures, as experts categorize anywhere 3 to 10 kilometers from an outbreak as an “alert area.”

Meanwhile, Food Minister Chang Tae-pyong told a radio show yesterday morning, “The FMD virus is known to be transmitted through humans and vehicles.” He vowed to “strengthen restrictions on human and vehicle traffic in and out of the areas where the outbreak took place.”

As of early this week, Korea had slaughtered and buried almost 50,000 livestock from 361 farms, incurring costs of more than 55 billion won ($49 million).


Foot-and-mouth disease affects all cloven-hooved animals including cattle, pigs, deer, goats and buffalo.

For its high contagiousness and impact on trade, FMD is classified as a “List A” disease by the Paris-based World Organization for Animal Health.


Late April the Korean government raised the alert level to red, the highest in its four-level system.

It was the first time the red level had been used since a foot-and-mouth disease alert system was adopted in 2004.


Korea was hit twice before by the disease in 2000 and 2002, with its losses reaching 301 billion won and 144 billion won, respectively.

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