FMD disease may spread across South Korea

Foot-and-mouth disease may spread nationwide in South Korea after new cases of the animal disease were found, according to the government.

Two cases were found at a pig farm in Chungju, south of Seoul, indicating the virus has spread inland, Agriculture Minister Chang Tae Pyong said Thursday (Apr 22). A new outbreak was discovered on April 9 on Ganghwa island, less than a month after the nation declared itself free of the disease.

Officials said that the two recent outbreaks could be connected because both have business ties with livestock companies in Icheon and Cheongwon that sell mother pigs and animal sperm. They are currently screening all farms that have business dealings with the two livestock companies and beefing up decontamination at these locations, the officials added.

The FMD virus is one of the most contagious animal diseases and can have high mortality rates in young animals, according to the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE). China in March reported an outbreak of the disease in pigs, while Japan said on April 20 it had found suspected cases in cows.

In January, South Korea reported its first outbreak of the virus since 2002 in dairy cows at a farm in Pocheon, north of Seoul. A total of 160,155 cows and pigs were slaughtered, costing the industry US$129 million.

The ministry said that at current level, the government is not considering vaccinating animals because that could make it difficult for the country to regain its FMD disease all-clear status, which is required under international regulations for a country to export meat from cloven-hoofed animals.

South Korea last year exported 12,515 tonnes of pork worth US$11.6 million, according to the Korea Meat Trade Association.

At present there has been no fallout in meat prices in the country because the number of animals destroyed is relatively small. There are currently over 9.6 million pigs being raised in the country.