March 11, 2011

FMD vaccinations may become regular in South Korea

Following the recent outbreak of Foot-and-Mouth disease (FMD), the South Korean government is considering regular vaccinations, which will take place every six months for 3-5 years.

"As we gave up culling livestock that would spread the FMD virus and have already vaccinated livestock nationwide, we run a much greater risk of a chronic latent FMD virus than before. If we reduce or stop vaccination, the risk of recurrence or spread of the virus increases, so introduction of constant vaccination is inevitable," said a government official.

The World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) will give the status of being FMD-free through vaccination, when a country has been free of the epidemic for at least two years. For Korea it will probably take two or three years to get the status back. However, for a vaccine-free status, an application for this can be made three months after the culling of the last infected animal.