South Korea activates its highest alert level for foot-and-mouth disease in the center of the country

South Korea activated its maximum alert level in the center of the country on Friday due to the increase in infections of aphtose fever among livestock, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs.

The alert was increased by two degrees to reach the maximum on its four-level scale in locations such as Cheongju, where the first cases were detected, Jeungpyeong county or the adjacent municipalities of Daejeon, Sejong or Cheonan, all in the center of the country. .

It is the first time since 2018 that the authorities of the Asian country are forced to activate the highest level of alert due to the pituitary diseaseone of the most infectious diseases for cattle since it is contracted by all those animals with cloven hooves.

At the end of last week South Korea detected, for the first time in four years, the first cases of pituitary fever in the country, in this case in two cattle farms in Cheongju.

Today there are already 11 cases detected both in Cheongju (nine) and in the nearby county of Jeungpyeong (two).

In addition to slaughtering head of cattle to prevent new infections on farms where there have been outbreaks, to contain the disease, the administration of vaccines has been completed in all farms in the nine cities and counties affected by the alert, and their facilities related to the meat distribution have also been closed for the time being.

It is believed that the administration of vaccines will prevent the disease from being transmitted to other parts of the country, although the Ministry does not rule out that for the moment sporadic cases continue to be detected in the central region.

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