December 8, 2010

South Korea reports another FMD outbreak

South Korea confirmed on Tuesday (Dec 7) an additional outbreak of the highly contagious foot-and-mouth disease (FMD), increasing the total number of cases to 31 since late November.

The Ministry of Agriculture announced that cattle at a small farm in Yeongyang County, some 280 kilometres southeast of Seoul in North Gyeongsang Province, tested positive for the animal disease.

The confirmation marks the first time that an FMD case was reported in the county along the east coast and the second outbreak after Yecheon that a disease affected a farm outside of the Andong region.

Of all confirmed cases of FMD reported after November 28, 29 occurred in Andong.

The ministry, which had set up a precautionary quarantine area around the farm, said the three cattle on the farm have been culled and buried along with all cloven-hoofed animals within a 500-meter radius.

Other farms within a 10-kilometre radius of the latest case will be closely monitored to see if there are further symptoms.

The exact cause of how the animals got infected is unknown, but the farm is 12.4 kilometres northeast of a cattle farm that reported sick animals late last week.

Seoul, which first reported an FMD case in 2000, was hit again in 2002 and two more times earlier this year. Authorities said more than 104,360 heads of cattle and pigs have been slated to be culled to prevent the spread of the disease.

FMD affects all cloven-hoofed animals, such as cattle, pigs, deer, goats and buffalo, and is classified as a "List A" disease by the Paris-based World Organization for Animal Health. Countries that report the disease are barred from exporting meat from cloven-hoofed animals.

The ministry, meanwhile, said animals with symptoms detected at a farm in nearby Uiseong County on Monday (Dec 6) tested negative for FMD.