Foot-and-mouth disease spreads across South Korea, stoking fears of wider damage
Saturday, 24 April 2010
Eugene Kim
The eighth outbreak of the foot-and- mouth disease (FMD) this month alone has been confirmed in South Korea, stoking fears of wider damages.
The latest outbreak was found in the southern region of the country, a sign that the FMD may have made its way deeper into the mainland, but the government is still struggling to find the main cause of the highly-contagious animal disease that affect cloven- hoofed animals including pigs, cattle and goats.
On Thursday, the South Korean government confirmed the seventh and eighth cases of the FMD this month at a pig farm in Chungju, 147 km south of Seoul.
According to the Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, some 10 pigs out of 1,000 animals at the farm started showing symptoms of the FMD late Wednesday, prompting officials to seal off the area and take countermeasures.
The latest outbreak occurred in the southern part of the country-- after six cases were reported in the northwest region of the country earlier this month-- proving the highly contagious disease spread deeper into the country.
The first five cases of the FMD this month were found in the Ganghwa island off the west coast on April 9, and the sixth outbreak was found last Tuesday at a dairy farm in Gimpo, about 50km west of Seoul.
In order to contain the disease, the government slaughtered roughly 29,000 pigs and cattle in Ganghwa and Gimpo, and more than 12,000 animals are expected to be culled in Chungju.
However, local experts said pigs are 3,000 times more susceptible to the spread of FMD virus than cattle, warning the situation in Chungju may be worse than previous outbreaks in the country.
South Korea saw the first outbreak of the FMD in eight years on Jan. 7 in Pocheon, 45 km north of Seoul, resulting in approximately 5,956 animals culled at a cost of 42.5 billion won ( 37.9 million U.S. dollars).
It was also hit by the disease twice in 2000 and 2002, with losses amounting to 300.6 billion won (269.8 million U.S. dollars) and 143.4 billion won (128.7 million U.S. dollars) respectively.
In response, the government said it would keep the four-level animal disease alert status at the second-highest "orange" level, which was raised from the "blue" level earlier this month, but will take all countermeasures to prevent further spread of the disease.
"We will maintain the current orange level, the second-highest status, but we will tighten all countermeasures to the equivalent of the highest 'red' alert level," said Ha Young-ja, vice farm minister.
The ministry added it would set up roadblocks to control movement of livestock at nearby farms and carry out decontamination efforts for vehicles, while all farms located within 10 km of the contaminated farms will be prohibited from moving their animals.
Also, all livestock markets will be closed until the outbreak is fully contained, according to the farm ministry.
Prime Minister Chung Un-chan urged South Koreans to refrain from travelling to other "high-risk" countries reportedly infected by the FMD recently, and asked local airports and ports to enhance quarantine measures.
Chung also demanded a quick investigation to find the exact cause of the disease, though some quarantine officials said human could be responsible for the spread of the virus to Chungju, according to Yonhap news agency.
However, Ha said the government would not consider vaccinating animals at this point, since it would hamper the country's effort to regain the "clear" status from the FMD. International regulations require a "clear" status for a country to export meat products from cloven-hoofed animals.
On March 23, the South Korean government declared that it got rid of the FMD, after no case of the disease was confirmed since Jan. 30. It added if no additional outbreaks were to be found by mid-June, it would apply for the status as the FMD-free country with the World Organization for Animal Health to initiate discussions with dairy importers, including China and Japan.
"In principle, resuming exports would be possible after we regain the FMD-free status in September," a farm ministry spokesman told reporters in March.
However, the repeated outbreaks of the FMD in South Korea are expected to slow the process and raise concerns about a fall in dairy exports, local media said.
But it added the volume of South Korean meat exports is too small to make any immediate impact on the country's overall economy, and local meat prices remain nearly unchanged because the total number of animals affected by the disease is relatively small over 9.6 million pigs are being raised in South Korea.
Nonetheless, the farm ministry said the size of the loss stemming from this month's FMD is around 126 billion won (114 million U.S. dollars) so far. Local media estimated the total damage could reach approximately 250 billion won (226 million U.S. dollars), nearly six times the loss from January's outbreak, since a record-high number of animals could be culled and government compensation to farmers will also increase as a result.
Although humans are hardly affected by FMD, South Koreans may shy away from consuming local meat, as was the case in 2002 when meat prices dropped by 15 percent due to lower demand, it added. ---Xinhua
The eighth outbreak of the foot-and- mouth disease (FMD) this month alone has been confirmed in South Korea, stoking fears of wider damages.
The latest outbreak was found in the southern region of the country, a sign that the FMD may have made its way deeper into the mainland, but the government is still struggling to find the main cause of the highly-contagious animal disease that affect cloven- hoofed animals including pigs, cattle and goats.
On Thursday, the South Korean government confirmed the seventh and eighth cases of the FMD this month at a pig farm in Chungju, 147 km south of Seoul.
According to the Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, some 10 pigs out of 1,000 animals at the farm started showing symptoms of the FMD late Wednesday, prompting officials to seal off the area and take countermeasures.
The latest outbreak occurred in the southern part of the country-- after six cases were reported in the northwest region of the country earlier this month-- proving the highly contagious disease spread deeper into the country.
The first five cases of the FMD this month were found in the Ganghwa island off the west coast on April 9, and the sixth outbreak was found last Tuesday at a dairy farm in Gimpo, about 50km west of Seoul.
In order to contain the disease, the government slaughtered roughly 29,000 pigs and cattle in Ganghwa and Gimpo, and more than 12,000 animals are expected to be culled in Chungju.
However, local experts said pigs are 3,000 times more susceptible to the spread of FMD virus than cattle, warning the situation in Chungju may be worse than previous outbreaks in the country.
South Korea saw the first outbreak of the FMD in eight years on Jan. 7 in Pocheon, 45 km north of Seoul, resulting in approximately 5,956 animals culled at a cost of 42.5 billion won ( 37.9 million U.S. dollars).
It was also hit by the disease twice in 2000 and 2002, with losses amounting to 300.6 billion won (269.8 million U.S. dollars) and 143.4 billion won (128.7 million U.S. dollars) respectively.
In response, the government said it would keep the four-level animal disease alert status at the second-highest "orange" level, which was raised from the "blue" level earlier this month, but will take all countermeasures to prevent further spread of the disease.
"We will maintain the current orange level, the second-highest status, but we will tighten all countermeasures to the equivalent of the highest 'red' alert level," said Ha Young-ja, vice farm minister.
The ministry added it would set up roadblocks to control movement of livestock at nearby farms and carry out decontamination efforts for vehicles, while all farms located within 10 km of the contaminated farms will be prohibited from moving their animals.
Also, all livestock markets will be closed until the outbreak is fully contained, according to the farm ministry.
Prime Minister Chung Un-chan urged South Koreans to refrain from travelling to other "high-risk" countries reportedly infected by the FMD recently, and asked local airports and ports to enhance quarantine measures.
Chung also demanded a quick investigation to find the exact cause of the disease, though some quarantine officials said human could be responsible for the spread of the virus to Chungju, according to Yonhap news agency.
However, Ha said the government would not consider vaccinating animals at this point, since it would hamper the country's effort to regain the "clear" status from the FMD. International regulations require a "clear" status for a country to export meat products from cloven-hoofed animals.
On March 23, the South Korean government declared that it got rid of the FMD, after no case of the disease was confirmed since Jan. 30. It added if no additional outbreaks were to be found by mid-June, it would apply for the status as the FMD-free country with the World Organization for Animal Health to initiate discussions with dairy importers, including China and Japan.
"In principle, resuming exports would be possible after we regain the FMD-free status in September," a farm ministry spokesman told reporters in March.
However, the repeated outbreaks of the FMD in South Korea are expected to slow the process and raise concerns about a fall in dairy exports, local media said.
But it added the volume of South Korean meat exports is too small to make any immediate impact on the country's overall economy, and local meat prices remain nearly unchanged because the total number of animals affected by the disease is relatively small over 9.6 million pigs are being raised in South Korea.
Nonetheless, the farm ministry said the size of the loss stemming from this month's FMD is around 126 billion won (114 million U.S. dollars) so far. Local media estimated the total damage could reach approximately 250 billion won (226 million U.S. dollars), nearly six times the loss from January's outbreak, since a record-high number of animals could be culled and government compensation to farmers will also increase as a result.
Although humans are hardly affected by FMD, South Koreans may shy away from consuming local meat, as was the case in 2002 when meat prices dropped by 15 percent due to lower demand, it added. ---Xinhua