TAIPEI: Another confirmed case of foot and mouth disease (FMD) has been recorded at a meat market by Taiwan's animal quarantine authorities. The latest outbreak was spotted on July 13 among a pen of hogs at a meat market in Hsinchu county, northern Taiwan.

Eight of the nine hogs in the pen had blisters - typical of FMD. The animals were destroyed immediately.

Officials at the Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine (BAPHIQ) said tests on specimens taken from the hogs confirmed they had been infected with serotype O of the FMD virus.

Since the hogs had been enclosed overnight at the meat market, officials suspected the hogs became infected at the facility.

The market was disinfected soon after the discovery of FMD and it will be disinfected again during the weekend when the market is not open for business, officials said.

Quarantine officials inspected the farm where the hogs were raised and found no problems.

The BAPHIQ, however, has restricted the movement of livestock within the farm and has collected specimens for further tests, the officials went on.

Sporadic FMD cases have been reported on pig farms in several parts of Taiwan since the start of the year.

The cases have come just as Taiwan, which experienced a serious FMD outbreak in 1997, has been trying to restore its status as fully FMD-free. Taiwan had previously been recognized as "FMD-free with vaccination" by the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE).

China Daily/CNA

(HK Edition 07/22/2009 page2)