FMD case confirmed in Uiseong

South Korea said yesterday that it has confirmed an additional case of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) in the southeastern part of the country, fueling fears that the contagious animal disease continues to spread despite stepped-up quarantine efforts.

The Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries said cattle raised in a farm located in Uiseong, 334 kilometers (207 miles) southeast of Seoul, were found to be infected with the highly contagious disease that affects cloven-hoofed animals.

“The FMD case was found among cattle culled and buried as part of quarantine efforts before infection tests were not completed,” a ministry official said.

The ministry said it has ordered all cloven-hoofed livestock to be destroyed within a 500-meter radius of the farm.

So far, South Korea has reported 45 suspected FMD cases since a Nov. 29 outbreak in Andong, about 270km southeast of Seoul. Of them, 32 have tested positive for the disease while four additional cases have been confirmed among cattle destroyed before test results came in, according to the ministry. Quarantine officials said they have destroyed a total of 147,173 heads of livestock.

Yonhap