South Korea (02): (North Chungcheong) cattle, spread, control, trade

Date: Fri 12 May 2023
Source: Hankook Ilbo [in Korean, machine trans., abridged, edited]
https://m.hankookilbo.com/News/Read/A2023051214470000645


According to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, foot-and-mouth disease [FMD] broke out at 2 Hanwoo [a native Korean beef cattle breed] farms in Cheongju, Chungcheongbuk-do on 11 May 2023, and 2 neighboring farms were added as confirmed during a surveillance process. On the same day [11 May 2023], one additional farm nearby was confirmed, bringing the total number of infected farms to 5. Quarantine authorities slaughtered all 500 cattle raised at these farms, and Chungcheongbuk-do raised the FMD prevention crisis response level to 'caution'. It has been 4 years and 4 months since January 2019, when FMD occurred last time in Korea.

The problem is that 231 farms and 39 998 artiodactyls [cloven hoofed animals] are concentrated within a 3 km [1.86 mi] radius of the FMF-affected farm. Additional confirmed cases may emerge as clinical tests are underway on cattle, pigs, and goats raised here.

It is known that FMD usually occurs in winter, but in July 2014, FMD also broke out in Hampyeong, South Jeolla Province, and in August [2014], in Uiseong and Goryeong, North Gyeongsang Province, and in Hapcheon, South Gyeongsang Province.

It is fortunate that the activity of the FMD virus decreases as summer approaches, but it is difficult to be relieved because the virus itself is so contagious that it has been designated as a class one livestock epidemic. According to the Agriculture, Forestry and Livestock Quarantine Headquarters, there have been reports that the FMD virus has spread up to 50 km [31 mi] through the air [see comment].

In particular, since infected cows and pigs shed the FMD virus before symptoms appear, it is difficult to rule out the possibility of spreading the infection through vehicles or people who have entered the farm. It is for this reason that when FMD was confirmed in Cheongju, 7 cities and counties, including Daejeon, Sejong, Boeun, Goesan, Jincheon, and Jeungpyeong in North Chungcheong Province, and Cheonan in South Chungcheong Province, urgently dispatched quarantine vehicles to artiodactyl farms.

The prospect that the price of shopping carts may increase due to FMD that occurred ahead of the summer vacation season, when meat consumption is high, is also raising its head. This means that the additional spread of FMD or the strengthening of quarantine measures may cause disruptions in the distribution of livestock products, leading to a rise in meat prices. During the 2010-2011 FMD outbreak in which 3.48 million cows and pigs were slaughtered across the country, pork prices soared by more than 40%.

An official from the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs said, "We will do our best to manage FMD by mobilizing all available resources, including prompt culling, emergency vaccination, clinical tests, and intensive disinfection."

[Byline: Byun Tae-seop]

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Communicated by:
ProMED

[Mainly based upon research undertaken during the last part of the 20th C, starting in 1968 (during the FMD epizootic in the UK), leading to the 1st papers, published in 1969/1970 (refs 1-3, below), models for simulating the airborne spread of FMD have been developed in England, Denmark, France, and Spain. They fall into 2 categories, those designed for predicting spread over short distances (up to 10 km; 6.2 mi) and those predicting spread over long distances (up to several hundred km). Climatic and meteorological conditions, surface data, the virus strain, the virus-emitting species, and the susceptible target animals, are the main determinants of airborne spread. The issue has recently been reviewed (4).

References
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1. Sellers RF, Parker J. Airborne excretion of foot-and-mouth disease virus. J Hyg (Lond). 1969; 67(4): 671-7; https://doi.org/10.1017/s0022172400042121.
2. Hugh-Jones ME, Wright PB. Studies on the 1967-8 foot-and-mouth disease epidemic. The relation of weather to the spread of disease. J Hyg (Lond). 1970; 68(2): 253-71; https://doi.org/10.1017/s0022172400028722.
3. Donaldson AI, Herniman KA, Parker J, Sellers RF. Further investigations on the airborne excretion of foot-and-mouth disease virus. J Hyg (Lond). 1970; 68(4): 557-64; https://doi.org/10.1017/s0022172400042480.
4. Brown E, Nelson N, Gubbins S, Colenutt C. Airborne Transmission of foot-and-mouth disease virus: A review of past and present perspectives. Viruses. 2022; 14(5): 1009; https://doi.org/10.3390/v14051009.
- Mod.AS]

Date: Thu 11 May 2023
Source: Hankook Ilbo [in Korean, machine trans., abridged, edited]
https://m.hankookilbo.com/News/Read/A2023051115060004190?utm_source=taboola


The confirmation of FMD came out just before the decision to restore Korea's status as a country free from FMD. The export of halal-certified Korean beef, which the government has been working hard on, has begun to get coordinated with Malaysia.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs on 11 May 2023, FMD broke out at 3 Korean beef farms in Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province. FMD, a highly contagious livestock disease, affects cloven-hoofed animals such as cattle, pigs, and sheep.

Previously, in September 2022, the government submitted an application to the World Organization for Animal Health (WOAH) to restore Korea's status as an FMD-free country. This is because it met the requirements of 'no FMD outbreak for 2 years and no evidence of FMD for one year'. Until now, it was impossible for Korea to export beef or pork to an FMD-free country, so the government hoped that the decision to recover the status this time would open the way for meat exports. Last year [2022], beef exports were 44 tons, only 0.01% of imports.

However, the outbreak of FMD before a decision addressing restoring the country's status as free from FMD, expected to be taken during WOAH's General Assembly to be held in Paris, France, 21-25 May 2023, turns the recovery of the status uncertain. Korea obtained FMD-free status in May 2014, but lost that status due to an outbreak in July of the same year [2014]. Since then, as sporadic infections have continued, it has been classified as a non-clean country.

The outbreak of FMD for the 1st time in 4 years has pushed exports of halal-certified Korean beef into the fog. Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Jeong Hwang-geun, who volunteered to become a 'K-Food salesperson' and left the country that day [11 May 2023], originally planned to sign in Malaysia a contract to export the first Halal-certified Korean beef.

An official from the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs said, "We are conveying the position that Hongcheon, Gangwon, where there is a halal-certified slaughterhouse, and the FMD outbreak area, are distant from each other, so it is difficult to see them as the same area." Earlier, in February 2020, the 2 countries agreed on import sanitary conditions, designating meat produced from cattle raised in regions where FMD did not occur as approved for export. In other words, the conclusion of a contract to export halal-certified Korean beef depends on whether the Malaysian government accepts the determination of the affected region.

[Byline: Byun Tae-seop]

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Communicated by:
ProMED

[WOAH terrestrial animal health code chapter 8.8, "Infection with FMD virus", includes the following articles which are related to S. Korea's FMD-status (https://www.woah.org/en/what-we-do/standards/codes-and-manuals/terrestrial-code-online-access/?id=169&L=1&htmfile=chapitre_fmd.htm).

- Article 8.8.3.: FMD free country or zone where vaccination is practised
- Article 8.8.4.: FMD free compartment
- Article 8.8.7.: Recovery of free status
- Article 8.8.22.: Recommendations for importation from FMD infected countries or zones where an official control programme exists, for fresh meat of cattle and water buffaloes (_Bubalus bubalis_) (excluding feet, head and viscera)

WOAH website section that addresses "Official FMD Status", including an updated list of the recognized countries, and a map presenting all countries, indicating their respective status, is available at https://www.woah.org/en/disease/foot-and-mouth-disease/#ui-id-2. - Mod.AS]