Science and Health

S. Korea culls livestock suspected of food-and-mouth infection

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-01-08 15:44
Large Medium Small

SEOUL: South Korean quarantine workers have killed 309 heads of livestock on Friday in the wake of the outbreak of the foot-and-mouth disease in the country, Seoul's Ministry of Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries said.

Related readings:
S. Korea culls livestock suspected of food-and-mouth infection Panel formed to tackle deadly hand-foot-mouth disease outbreak
S. Korea culls livestock suspected of food-and-mouth infection Hand-foot-mouth disease deaths rise to 19 in Shandong

The workers culled and buried 264 milk cows and 45 goats within 300-meter radius of the dairy farm in Pocheon, 46 kilometers north of Seoul in Gyeonggi Province, where six of the farm's 185 milk cows, all culled on Friday, were confirmed to have contracted the virus.

The foot-and-mouth disease is a highly contagious and sometimes fatal disease that can affect cloven-hoofed animals, including pigs, sheep and goats, while humans are hardly affected by the virus.

The country will continue carrying out quarantine measures restricting movement of animals in the region in order to prevent further spread, the ministry said.

The recent outbreak is the first one in eight years, after the country suffered the outbreak in 2000 and 2002, which caused a fall in dairy exports.
Specials
Columnists
China Daily E-paper