February 11, 2011

 

North Korea confirms FMD outbreak

 

 

North Korea reported on Thursday (Feb 10) that it has been hit with the livestock FMD that has killed thousands of animals.

 

FMD first broke out in the North Korean capital of Pyongyang late last year, according to the North's state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), and has since spread to eight provinces.

 

"The city of Pyongyang and North Hwanghae and Gangwon provinces have suffered the most damage," the KCNA reported. "At cooperative farms, dairy farms and pig farms in these regions, about 10,000 cows, milk cows and pigs have been affected and thousands of others have died."

 

The KCNA also said an emergency quarantine has been issued across the country and Vice Premier Kim Rak-hui is heading a national committee in charge of quarantine efforts.

 

South Korea has also been battling FMD that has spread nationwide in the last three months and caused more than three million livestock to be culled. It remains unclear whether the disease has spread from the South to the North.

 

Earlier Thursday (Feb 10), the Radio Free Asia said North Korea reported an FMD outbreak to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the UN. According to the report, the UN body was planning to send experts to North Korea "at an appropriate time" to help the reclusive communist country contain the contagious disease.

 

An e-mail to the Rome-based FAO seeking confirmation was not immediately returned while its South Korean office said it had no details. An official at South Korea's Unification Ministry, which handles affairs involving North Korea, said on condition of anonymity that the report "appears true considering intelligence that FMD has recently hit the North."

 

In 2007, North Korea suffered outbreaks of the disease, prompting South Korea to dispatch a team of animal health experts amid a mood of reconciliation.

 

Citing recent visitors to the impoverished neighbour, South Korean officials said last month that the North is believed to be stepping up its quarantine efforts after outbreaks were reported.

 

South and North Korea are divided by one of the world's most heavily fortified borders. Most cross-border exchanges have come to a halt over the last three years.

 

FMD is highly contagious and affects cloven-hoofed animals like cattle, pigs, deer, goats and sheep. The disease causes blisters on the mouths and feet of livestock and leads to death. It is rarely transmitted to humans.

 

North Korea has banned the inflow of pork and beef from South Korea since late last year for fear that the disease may spread there.