Foot-and-mouth disease case suspected in Pohang

Amid growing fears over a recurrence of the foot and mouth disease in winter, quarantine authorities began Monday an investigation into suspected symptoms of the deadly animal disease.

The Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry said the investigation is looking into suspicious symptoms related to foot-and-mouth disease as reported by a farm raising hanwoo, or Korean cattle, in Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province. The owner of the farm said one of the 14 heads of cattle slobbered and its feed intake was reduced, which seem to be typical symptoms of the deadly disease.

The ministry said, “Probe results will come out Tuesday morning,” adding, “If the results come out positive for the disease, we can confirm that dormant foot-and-mouth disease viruses have grown active with temperatures going down.”

Since the virus gets active at temperatures below 4 degrees Celsius, an alert should be raised in winter.

A quarantine official said, “Among 12 reports of the suspected foot-and-mouth disease from April 20, when the last outbreak of the disease was reported, through Aug. 30, none was tested positive,” adding, “But we`re paying attention to this latest case since it happened after temperatures went down.”

North Gyeongsang Province will ban access to the allegedly affected farm.

The cow that is showing suspicious symptoms had been vaccinated against the disease three times from early this year. Vaccination generally creates antibodies against the disease, but exceptions can occur if livestock’s immune system is weakened.

The ministry said, “The owner of the farm in question returned from a four-day trip to Beijing early this month,” adding, “But we confirmed that he was sterilized at the airport.”

If tests come out positive for the disease, what is important is the kind of the virus. Quarantine authorities distributed to livestock farms nationwide vaccines against type A, O and Asia 1 viruses of the disease. If the virus is one of the three, the spread of the disease can be prevented by culling affected livestock.

Most foot-and-mouth disease viruses entering Korea are one of the three. If the virus turns out to be none of them, however, another massive outbreak of the disease could erupt as seen early this year.

imsun@donga.com jang@donga.com