Foot-and-mouth cases rise to seven in latest outbreak

Korea confirmed another foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) case in North Chungcheong, raising the total number of infections in the country to seven since the disease broke out for the first time in four years last week.

Cows eat at a farm located near where foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) broke out in Cheongju, North Chungcheong last Wednesday. [YONHAP]

Korea confirmed another foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) case in North Chungcheong, raising the total number of infections in the country to seven since the disease broke out for the first time in four years last week.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, the latest infection was confirmed at a beef cattle farm in Cheongju, North Chungcheong on Monday.

Of the seven cases, six were confirmed in Cheongju and one in a nearby county of Jeungpyeong.

The number of cases has been rising since FMD infections were reported at two cattle farms located in Cheongju last Wednesday.

The last time that the country reported FMD was in 2019.

Three cases of FMD were confirmed from Jan. 28 to 31 in 2019, two cases from March 26 to April 1 in 2018, nine cases from Feb. 5 to 13 in 2017 and 21 cases from Jan. 11 to March 29 in 2016.

“None of my cows are showing symptoms of FMD, but it is an emergency as the disease broke out so close,” said a 67-year-old who raises around 70 cattle right across from the farmhouse where the infection broke out in Jeungpyeong County.

According to the provincial office of North Chungcheong, 173 farms raise around 31,400 cows and pigs within a 3-kilometer (1.9 miles) radius of the farm where the infection broke out.

Some 1,000 cattle were culled after a total of five FMD cases were reported in the city of Cheongju this month.

“I have seen a farmer who was having a hard time because of the outbreak as the farmer incurred debts to start the beef cattle farm,” said an official from the city government of Cheongju.

“Farmers have become sensitive, concerned about additional outbreaks since the farms are all so close to each other.”

The Animal and Plant Quarantine Agency said DNA analysis has determined that the latest outbreak of FMD which began in Cheongju originated from overseas.

The analysis showed that the FMD virus in Korea was homologous to the one found in Southeast Asian countries such as Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam from 2019 to 2020.

Due to the spread of the virus, neighbors in the area started taking action to protect themselves from the virus.

Livestock markets nearby in Sangju and Mungyeong in North Gyeongsang shut down temporarily.

The provincial government of South Gyeongsang announced on Tuesday that it will vaccinate all cows, pigs and goats in the area.

It is also unlikely that Korea will be designated free of FMD during the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH)’s general session set to be held in Paris next week.

The Korean government submitted an application to restore its status as an FMD-free country to the WOAH last year. No FMD infections should be confirmed in the country for at least two years to qualify for the selection.

BY CHO JUNG-WOO, SHIN JIN-HO [cho.jungwoo1@joongang.co.kr]