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Korea investigates reports of more cattle disease

SEOUL: South Korea, aiming to contain the spread of a deadly cattle disease, is investigating reports of outbreaks at 10 more farms, the Agriculture Ministry said on Monday.

"Ten other farms have reported suspected disease in their cattle," a ministry official said.

The state-run National Veterinary Research and Quarantine Service on Sunday confirmed that disease found in cattle at Paju, northwest of Seoul in March was foot-and-mouth disease.

Foot and mouth is a potentially fatal and highly contagious disease in cloven-hoofed animals, including cattle and pigs, but it cannot be transmitted to humans.

However, a spread of the disease can be devastating to a country's livestock industry.

An outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in Taiwan in 1997 forced authorities to slaughter a quarter of the island's 14 million pigs.

A Korean Agriculture Ministry official said the ministry had asked U.K. authorities to ship preventive medicine to treat 1.5 million cattle and pigs. The medicine would take about a week to arrive.

The ministry said earlier it had stocks of the medicine to treat 300,000 animals.

NEW REPORTS, SYMPTOMS SLIGHT, DIFFERENT

The latest reports of disease come from farms located in the western coastal area of South Korea. The previous outbreaks were reported from the same region of the country.

"We are investigating whether or not these are related to foot-and-mouth disease but the chances are very low," a ministry official said, noting two of the farms had been given a clean bill of health.

"Farmers appear to be reporting disease out of fear it could be foot-and-mouth disease, although symptoms in their livestock are slight or different," he said.

Authorities slaughtered more than 100 cattle and pigs after discovering the foot-and-mouth disease in 15 cattle at a farm in Paju, northwest of Seoul. It has banned the transport of livestock in the area.

Japan, Australia and Taiwan suspended imports of beef and pork from South Korea after the outbreak was reported.

Korean authorities reported on Sunday a fresh outbreak of suspected foot-and-mouth disease at two farms located in the Chungchong region southwest of Seoul.

A ministry official said 13 cattle were found to be infected and some 93 animals were slaughtered to contain any spread of the disease.-Reuters