# 5239
While not totally unexpected, the announcement today that FMD (Foot & Mouth Disease) has apparently been detected in North Korean livestock is worrisome news.
First, links to several reports (h/t Makoto on FluTrackers for the first one), then some discussion.
From the Korea JoongAng Daily:
Foot-and-mouth now in North, says military
January 18, 2011
North Korea is apparently suffering from its own bout of foot-and-mouth disease, according to a South Korean military official.
“According to South Korean and U.S. intelligence, roads have been blocked by the military near Pyongyang to decrease movement of people,” said the official, who asked not to be named. The source said that quarantine measures are proving difficult for North Korea, which lacks preventive medicine such as vaccines and quicklime in which to bury contagious animals.
From the Korea Times:
N. Korea may have FMD outbreak
Kim Young-jin
Foot-and-mouth disease, which has caused South Korea to put down some two million heads of livestock, may have hit North Korea as well, officials here said Tuesday.
The officials cited recent visitors to the North who claim the disease broke out late last year in the northern part of the country.
And from the DailyNK:
Intelligence Suggests North Korea Suffering FMD
By Kim So Yeol
[2011-01-18 18:28 ]
Evidence has emerged that foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) may have broken out in North Korea. Therefore, the question of whether the South Korean government might provide aid to combat any proven outbreak of the disease has arisen.
We get very little direct news out of North Korea, and frequently must rely on observations from the few international relief workers allowed in and out of their country, and military intelligence analyses.
Often these stories are never verified.
The food situation in the North has been described as dire for several years, and so the reports above that suggest that infected livestock are being consumed rather than culled – while not verified – at least sound plausible.
FMD is described by the USDA thusly:
Foot-and-mouth (FMD) disease is a severe, highly contagious viral disease of cattle and swine. It also affects sheep, goats, deer, and other cloven-hooved ruminants. FMD is not a threat to people and no human health risks are associated with the disease. FMD is caused by a virus. Signs of illness can appear after an incubation period of 1 to 8 days, but often develop within 3 days. There are seven known types and more than 60 subtypes of the FMD virus.
FMD (not to be confused with HFMD – a usually mild viral illness common to children) is endemic in many parts of the world (Africa, Asia, South America, some parts of Europe), but has been eradicated in many others.
The last outbreak of FMD in the United States was in 1929 – but vigilance is maintained to prevent its return.
Both Japan and South Korea detected FMD in the spring of 2010, and after the destruction of 290,000 head of livestock, Japan declared their FMD crisis over in August.
South Korea, however, continues to find infected livestock and has destroyed roughly 15% (2.1 million animals) of their combined swine & cattle herds in an effort to contain the virus.
South Korea has also reportedly destroyed more than 3 million poultry in response to their recent bird flu outbreaks (see S. Korea: Bird Flu Moves North).
This is the latest Reuters report on the culling of livestock in South Korea:
Major culling in S Korea over foot-and-mouth
Published: 6:09PM Tuesday January 18, 2011 Source: Reuters
FMD is very difficult to eradicate, as is evident by the ongoing struggles in South Korea to contain their recent outbreak.
North Korea, which lacks many of the resources found in the South, is far less well equipped to deal with an FMD outbreak.
Although South Korea has supplied emergency relief supplies and expertise to the North in the past when FMD was reported, in the wake of the attack on Yeonpyeong Island in November and the sinking of South Korea's Cheonan warship last March, relations between the two nations are in serious decline.
Aside from the obvious humanitarian issues involved, the destabilizing effects of another agricultural/food crisis in North Korea - combined with the prospect of having FMD becoming entrenched in a neighboring country – should make these latest reports of particular concern to interests in both South Korea and China.
