Asia-Pacific

S Korea confirms fifth outbreak of FMD: media

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-01-19 11:31

SEOUL: South Korea confirmed on Tuesday the fifth outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) at a beef cattle farm north of capital Seoul, local media reported.

The latest in a series of outbreaks since early January, the outbreak occurred at a farm located about 10 kilometers away from where the first outbreak was reported, causing fears that the highly contagious disease might further spread and dampen the country's dairy exports, local media said.

Quarantine authorities have begun culling 63 heads of livestock within the 500-meter radius of the farm, while looking into the source of infection, according to local media.

The latest infection comes after the country pledged stricter quarantine measures to stem further contamination, with the Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries planning to restrict access of animals and humans to the contaminated area, especially within three-kilometer radius of the farms where the disease was reported.

Livestock suspected of infection would be immediately banned from moving and could be culled before closer examination if deemed necessary, the ministry recently said.

The foot-and-mouth disease is a highly contagious and sometimes fatal disease that can affect cloven-hoofed animals, including pigs, sheep and goats, while humans are hardly affected by the virus.

The first outbreak in eight years occurred on January 7 in a local cattle farm located in Pochen, Gyeonggi Province, about 45 kilometers north of Seoul.

The country previously suffered such outbreaks in 2000 and 2002, which caused a fall in dairy exports.