New outbreak of FMD confirmed despite vaccinations

An additional outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease was confirmed Sunday, 51 days after the government said the country was free from the contagious disease.

The fresh outbreak puzzled quarantine authorities and livestock farms as it came after the completion of a nationwide vaccination campaign against the disease.

The Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry said Sunday, “The owner of a pig farm in Yeongcheon, North Gyeongsang Province, reported suspicious symptoms of his pigs to the government yesterday and a test found that they were infected with foot-and-mouth disease.”

The farm is raising 67 pigs and six of them lost their appetites, showed wounds in their hooves, and walked with a limp.

The ministry said, “A virus test confirmed that the latest outbreak is the same kind (Type O) as previous ones,” adding, “The six pigs were culled and the affected farm was banned from moving its livestock to other areas.”

Other pigs will not be slaughtered, however, as the culled pigs were affected by Type O foot-and-mouth disease against which livestock were vaccinated. The ban on the transfer of animals was imposed only on the affected farm as well.

Livestock farms are on alert, however, because the disease broke out despite a nationwide vaccination campaign.

Pigs at the affected farm were vaccinated twice on Feb. 6 and 23. They were hit by the disease after the 2-week antibody development period.

On this, a ministry source said, “Vaccination doesn’t guarantee complete protection from the disease,” adding, “There are many variables such as insufficient amounts of vaccines, bent needles, significantly lowered immunity of pigs, and a large amount of viruses.”

The Agriculture Ministry urged cities and counties nationwide to step up monitoring and quarantine work to prevent the spread of the disease. In particular, animals within 500 meters of the affected farm are being closely monitored.

The ministry said, however, “Regardless of the additional outbreak, the ban on the transfer of animals will be lifted, livestock market operations will be resumed, and livestock farms will be allowed to raise new animals.”

imsun@donga.com