Kang Seung-woo is the Business Desk editor at The Korea Times. Prior to this position, he covered politics, national affairs, finance and sports.
Fear grows over possible spread of swine fever
Quarantine officials cull pigs at a farm in Gimpo, Gyeonggi Province, Tuesday, after the third case of African swine fever was confirmed a day earlier. / Yonhap
By Kang Seung-woo
Fifth ASF case confirmed on Ganghwa Island
By Kang Seung-woo
Concerns are growing over the possible spread of African swine fever (ASF) nationwide amid speculation that vehicles visiting pig farms may have acted as a vector for the deadly virus.
As the incubation period of the disease is up to 19 days, farmers and quarantine authorities fear there may soon be additional cases of the highly contagious disease.
Since the first case of ASF was detected in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, Sept. 17, the Animal and Plant Quarantine Agency has confirmed five cases, with the latest coming at a farm on Ganghwa Island in Incheon, Tuesday.
AFS can be transmitted by wild boars to domestic pigs and there is no vaccine or cure for the disease that causes fever and bleeding. The virus does not affect humans.
More severe strains can kill animals within 10 days of infection and could wipe out entire livestock farms.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, the first four cases of the animal disease were related, possibly through vehicles visiting the areas.
“Vehicles that visited the first infected farm also stopped by the three others,” a ministry official said.
“The vehicles were either for delivering pigs to slaughterhouses, bringing in feed supplies or disposing of feces and other waste matter.”
The official also said a vehicle that visited a farm in Gimpo, Gyeonggi Province, where the third case was confirmed Monday, also stopped at two farms each in Eumseong and Jincheon, North Chungcheong Province, afterward ― although there have been no reports of suspected ASF cases yet.
He added that those farms have been banned from shipping their pigs out for three weeks, while vehicles visiting them are being thoroughly disinfected at designated checkpoints.
However, the ministry remains cautious on concluding that the vehicle movement was the exact cause of the spread of the disease.
“When carrying out an epidemiological investigation, we also consider the incubation period. In that respect, it is not easy to determine whether the vehicles caused ASF to spread,” the official said.
In the wake of confirmation of the infection at the Gimpo-based farm, the first case south of the Han River, concerns have been raised that the virus is spreading further south beyond Gyeonggi Province, home to all four infected farms.
Later in the day, the ministry announced that the pigs on the farm in the suspected case on Ganghwa Island tested positive for the disease ― the first falling outside Gyeonggi Province. The island is around 60 kilometers west of Seoul. The farm has 400 pigs.
Late Monday evening, the government ordered a 48-hour “standstill” for pig farms, feed factories and slaughterhouses not only in Gyeonggi Province and Incheon but also in Gangwon Province.
Since the first infection was confirmed last week, the government has slaughtered 16,000 pigs in Paju, Yeoncheon and Gimpo as a precaution.