From news reports

The government yesterday banned the movement of animals near sites where foot-and-mouth disease outbreaks have been confirmed and increased decontamination efforts to stem the spread of the highly contagious livestock disease.

The heightened effort comes after food-and-mouth disease, first reported earlier in the month on Ganghwa Island and near Gimpo along the west coast, spread to a pig farm in Chungju, about 150 kilometers southeast of Seoul, the farm ministry said.

All farms located within 10 kilometers of the eight contaminated farms will be barred from moving their animals. The government will buy those that cannot be sold at a later date.

Foot-and-mouth disease affects all cloven-hoofed animals such as cattle, pigs, deer and goats, and is classified as a “List A” disease by the Paris-based World Organization for Animal Health.

The ministry added that roadblocks and decontamination posts for vehicles have been set up in areas adjacent to Chungju such as Eumseong and Jecheon to contain further outbreaks. All livestock markets across the country will be closed until the outbreak is contained.

Chungju is a regional center for traffic causing quarantine authorities to take extra measures.

“We have begun the culling and burial of 3,000 animals, and the entire process of destroying more than 10,000 animals will be completed by the weekend at the latest,” a ministry source said.

Japan confirmed an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease at a farm in the southern prefecture of Miyazaki, the first outbreak in the Asian country since 2000.

A final test by the National Institute of Animal Health on three cows suspected of contracting the disease at the farm showed positive, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries said in a statement.

Since finding the first suspected case on April 20, Japan has reported three more suspected cases at nearby farms.

The government has imposed a ban on beef exports since it discovered the first suspected case and restricted movement of animals in the area. The local authority has been slaughtering cattle at the farms and has been disinfecting the area, it said.

Japan’s last outbreak of the disease was in 2000, when the country slaughtered 740 cattle.

Japan exported 594 metric tons of beef from April 2009 to February 2010 and imported 432,613 tons. Export markets for Japan’s premium beef include Vietnam, Hong Kong, the U.S. and Singapore, according to ministry data.

Korea yesterday banned imports of all meat and by-products made from cloven-hoofed animals in Japan.

“All quarantine inspections of products were suspended as of Tuesday, when the preliminary test conducted at the livestock farm turned up positive, but the new development calls for an outright ban,” said Chang Ki-yoon, head of the ministry‘s quarantine control division.

He added that fully processed food and hide products may be imported if they meet set production standards, although most goods from cloven hoofed animals will not be allowed to enter the country for the time being.

As of Wednesday, the Korean government had culled 48,749 animals at a cost of 125.6 billion won ($113.0 million), including compensation to farmers for animals destroyed. The total, however, is expected to go up in the coming days.

The current total losses have not yet reached the scope of the two previous outbreaks, but they may surpass the damage incurred in 2002, when the government spent 143,4 billion won. In the 2000 outbreak, the government resorted to widespread vaccination of animals that caused total spending to reach 300.6 billion won.

Authorities, meanwhile, said that they are scrambling to determine the exact cause of the disease that was first reported on April 8.

“Determining the cause is critical because it can help predict where future outbreaks may occur,” the ministry source said. But because hundreds of farms need to be examined, it may take time to find why the foot-and-mouth disease has spread across the country.

Tests have shown that the outbreaks reported this month are different from the six outbreaks confirmed in January. The earlier cases were caused by the A-Type strain of the virus, while the most recent outbreaks were of the O-Type strain.

Experts have also said that humans may have acted as the carrier of the disease. The virus, which does not affect humans, can survive on clothes and shoes for up to 60 days if conditions are favorable. The incubation period is about two weeks once it gets inside an animal.

Quarantine authorities said that no new suspected cases have been reported since Wednesday. “If there are no outbreaks next week, there is a chance that quarantine efforts have been effective,” the official said.