South Korea: FMD Culls One Third of National Pig Herd

March 23, 2011 — 

The recent Foot-and-Mouth (FMD) outbreak in South Korea has caused one third of the country's pig herd to be destroyed, delegates at the fifth Asian Pig Veterinary Society (APVS) Congress were told.

The outbreak was first notified in the end of November 2010, after which the whole country rapidly got infected. This latest FMD outbreak was discussed in several keynote presentations at the APVS Congress, held in Pattaya, Thailand.

Sacha Seneque, Merial Australia, spoke about FMD and cooperation in the Asian region and indicated that as from February 21st, a total of 3.40 million pigs had to be culled due to the FMD spread. Of this number, 3.25 million are pigs. Before the outbreak, pig numbers in South Korea amounted to 9.9 million - now about one third has been lost. In addition, 151,000 heads of cattle had to be culled and so had relatively small amounts of deer and goats.

Seneque reminded the Asian pig veterinarians that South Korea had successfully applied a strategy which included ring vaccination during two earlier outbreaks of FMD in 2009 and 2010 - the current one however requires a stronger approach. The most updated maps reveal most of the country's north, middle and south east have been hit hard, with strong effects on daily life as prices for milk and pork have gone up; water and soil may be contaminated due to buried carcasses; meat consumption is decreasing; agricultural jobs are lost; and festivals have to be cancelled due to transport restrictions.

Source:VetsWeb.com