By Cho Jae-hyon
Staff Reporter
A new outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) was confirmed on a cattle farm in Ganghwa, about 60 kilometers west of Seoul, Friday, less than a month after the government had declared the country clear of the highly contagious disease.
Animals at the farm began showing signs of symptoms on Thursday and tested positive shortly afterwards, forcing quarantine officials to close off the farm and restrict movement of the people and vehicles in the area, the Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries reported.
"We are taking all preventive countermeasures after suspected cows tested positive. Of the 180 heads of 'hanwoo' (cows raised in Korea) on the farm, 10 showed blisters on their mouths," said Lee Chang-buhm, head of the ministry's livestock bureau.
Additional reports from cow farms in the vicinity were made at the ministry Friday, with other cows also showing blisters. Quarantine officials are inspecting the farms. More outbreaks may be reported in the future given past experiences, ministry officials said.
Foot-and-mouth disease affects all cloven-hoofed animals such as cattle, pigs, deer and goats. This is the first time that the disease has broken out for a second time in a year in the country.
The ministry said that the cause of the outbreak is under investigation, but suspects that the farm owner's recent visit to China might have had something to do with the latest outbreak.
"The owner of the farm had recently visited a region of China that reported a foot-and-mouth case last week, and is in the feed import business," Lee said.
The imported Chinese feed found at the farm will be barred from being moved.
Ministry officials said that the latest outbreak should be viewed separately from the six cases confirmed in January because enough time has passed for there to be a physical connection. Previous outbreaks took place in Pocheon and Yeoncheon regions, north of Seoul.
Lee said the latest outbreak was caused by the "O type" virus strain that hit the country in 2000 and 2002, different from the "A type" that was reported in the country earlier this year.
The "O type" tends to spread more quickly among pigs.
Quarantine officials started culling cloven-hoofed animals near a local cattle farm on Friday. They culled some 2,500 heads of cloven-hoofed livestock, including 2,200 pigs within a 500-meter radius of the cattle farm to prevent further outbreaks of the highly contagious disease.
The ministry has declared a "danger zone" of up to 3 kilometers from the farm, with a "monitoring and control zone" extending out to 20 kilometers from the latest confirmed site.
The ministry raised its four-level animal disease alert status from the lowest "blue" level to "yellow" and will move to step up quarantine inspections at airports and ports.
All 82 livestock markets in the country, with the exception of those on Jeju Island have been closed with various gatherings and fairs involving farmers and animals to be cancelled.
The latest confirmation comes after the government declared that it was clear of the disease on March 23 after 5,956 animals were culled at a cost of 43 billion won ($38 million).