South Korea reported on Saturday two more outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease in local cattle farms, more than a week after the first outbreak in eight years, Xinhua quoted the government as saying. The two cattle farms, both located in Pochen in Gyeonggi Province, about 45 kilometers north of Seoul, are within a 1-kilometer radius of the farm where the first outbreak was confirmed on January 7, South Korea"s Ministry of Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries said. The government decided to cull and bury about 124 head of dairy cattle even before detailed test results were received, and also plans to kill livestock within a 500-meter radius of the two farms to prevent further spread of the highly infectious virus. The foot-and-mouth disease is a highly contagious and sometimes fatal disease that can affect cloven-hoofed animals including sheep and goats, while humans are hardly affected by the virus. The recent spread of the disease comes eight years after the country suffered the outbreaks in 2000 and 2002, respectively, which caused a fall in dairy exports. The South Korean government on Friday pledged to beef up quarantine measures to prevent further spread of the disease. Livestock suspected of infection would be immediately banned from moving and could be culled before closer examination if deemed necessary, a government official said. The government will more strictly restrict access of animals and humans to the contaminated area, especially within a three-kilometer radius of the farms where the disease was reported.
