SEOUL, – South Korea issued a “serious” warning Friday after confirming the first-ever case of lumpy skin disease (LSD) in cows raised at a local farm, the agriculture ministry said.
The owner of the cattle farm in the western city of Seosan detected four cows showing symptoms of the disease Thursday and in-depth checkups by the authorities confirmed their infection, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs.
The disaster response headquarters held an emergency meeting with related agencies and local provinces to raise the crisis alert level to the highest of the three-tier system and discuss other countermeasures.
The alert system is adjusted as follows: “concern” when the LSD cases occur in neighboring countries; “caution” when there are suspected cases domestically; and “serious” when domestic cases are confirmed.
Upon the report, the government cordoned off the farm and has been implementing quarantine measures, including culling about 40 cows there as a preventive step, the ministry said.
It also issued a 48-hour standstill order on all cattle farms and related facilities across the country from 2 p.m. Friday to prevent the spread of the disease.
As a highly infectious disease, LSD affects cattle and buffalo via mosquitoes and other blood-feeding insects.
It can cause skin lesions, fever, loss of appetite, a fall in milk production and can lead to death, though the disease does not pose any risk to humans.
South Korea, which established a diagnostic system in 2019, has designated the disease as a Class 1 infectious animal disease given its significant economic damage to farms.
Last year, it bought vaccines against the disease.
The disease was first reported in Africa back in 1929 and has spread widely, having been detected in more than 50 countries worldwide, the ministry said.
Source: Yonhap News Agency