Home > National > Social Affairs

Officials move to contain hoof-and-mouth disease

Published: 08 Jan. 2010, 21:25

A quarantine official sanitizes a cattle farm in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi, yesterday, in a pre-emptive move. Hoof-and-mouth disease has been detected in Pocheon, Gyeonggi, after an eight-year absence in Korea. [YONHAP]

POCHEON, Gyeonggi Province - A day after confirming an outbreak of livestock hoof-and-mouth disease at a dairy farm in Gyeonggi Province, Korea’s health and agriculture authorities scrambled to contain its spread.

They culled and buried some 300 animals yesterday morning, including milk cows and goats within a 500-meter radius from the epicenter.

Officials blocked the access road leading to the village where the disease, which is also known as foot and mouth disease, was discovered with a sign reading “No thoroughfare for vehicles, emergency animal quarantine control in operation.” Police and government officials stood by to block traffic. The Pocheon city government set up a disease control center and has applied nine tons of lime in the area as a disinfectant.

A total of 72 farms within a three-kilometer radius from the site of the initial outbreak are considered “dangerous,” while 382 farms within 10 kilometers have been deemed to require “warnings.” More than 160,000 animals live on the combined farms.

Kim Eui-jung, mayor of a small village in Pocheon, breathed a sigh of relief after authorities decided not to kill his 60 cows because his farm is 700 meters from the epicenter. He dusted lime across the roads in and out of his farm and closely monitored his animals for symptoms of HMD.

The Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries said Thursday that it would cull a total of 2,000 animals, including 346 cows and 1,500 pigs. As of yesterday evening, no additional reports of the disease had been made. However, the ministry said incubation periods stretch from two to eight days. It has dispatched 3,000 veterinarians to farms across the country to track the disease.

“The best way to prevent the further spread [of HMD] is limiting migration [of the animals],” said Kim Jeong-han, chief of Gyeonggi provincial government’s economic agricultural affairs bureau. “Contact between livestock farm workers should remain at minimum levels to prevent possible infection.”

On Thursday, six cows on a farm in Pocheon, Gyeonggi, were confirmed to have contracted HMD. The finding cost Korea its eight-year status as an HMD-free country. In 2002, the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE), an international animal quarantine agency, declared Korea clean from the disease, which paved the way for the country to resume pork exports.

Korea was hit by the disease in 2000 and 2002 with respective losses of 300 billion won ($265.5 million) and 150 billion won. Speculators fear the latest outbreak will lead trade partners to turn away Korean pork and beef.

The disease causes blisters to the mouths and feet of cloven-hoofed animals such as cows, pigs and sheep, as well as high fever. The mortality rate among the infected is above 50 percent. Humans cannot catch the disease and it is safe to eat the meat of affected animals.

By Seo Ji-eun, Jeon Ick-jin [[email protected]]

Related Korean Article

마을 곳곳에 통제소 축산분뇨·사료 소각

8년 만에 구제역이 발생한 경기도 포천시 창수면에는 긴장감이 맴돌았다. 8일 오후 4시 구제역 발생 지역인 추동3리 한 젖소농장과 1㎞ 떨어진 마을 입구 장승삼거리에는 통제소가 설치돼 있었다. ‘차량통제, 긴급가축방역’이라고 쓴 안내판이 세워져 있고, 소독약품인 생석회가 허옇게 도로에 뿌려져 있다.

경찰과 시청 공무원 6명이 농가로 향하는 차량과 외부인의 출입을 철저히 통제했다. 통제소는 발생 농가에서 반경 500m 안에도 2곳이 더 설치됐다. 구제역 발생이 확인된 뒤 서장원 포천시장을 본부장으로 하는 방역대책본부가 가동돼 가축 이동 제한 조치를 취했다. 소·돼지·염소처럼 굽이 두 개인 ‘우제류(偶蹄類)’ 동물이 대상이다.

현장통제본부는 이날 축사 주변을 중심으로 생석회 9t을 살포하며 방역 활동에 주력했다. 구제역 감염 가능성이 큰 살처분 농가의 축산 분뇨와 사료는 소각하거나 땅에 묻기로 했다.

포천시청 자치행정과 직원 장경선씨는 “가축이 실린 차량이 이동하는지를 우선 살피고 버스와 마을 공사장으로 가는 차량까지 통제하고 있다”며 “마을 주민이 아닌 경우 외부인들의 출입도 막고 있다”고 말했다.

반경 3㎞ 이내(위험지역) 4곳, 반경 10㎞ 이내(경계지역) 6곳 등 10곳에도 통제소가 설치됐다. 위험지역에는 72개 농가에서 2만9637마리, 경계지역에는 382개 농가 13만3245마리의 젖소나 돼지 등 우제류 가축이 사육되고 있다.

한글 원문 기사 보기