Science and Health
S. Korea culls livestock suspected of food-and-mouth infection
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-01-08 15:44
 |
Large Medium Small |
SEOUL: South Korean quarantine workers have killed 309 heads of livestock on Friday in the wake of the outbreak of the foot-and-mouth disease in the country, Seoul's Ministry of Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries said.
| ||||
The foot-and-mouth disease is a highly contagious and sometimes fatal disease that can affect cloven-hoofed animals, including pigs, sheep and goats, while humans are hardly affected by the virus.
The country will continue carrying out quarantine measures restricting movement of animals in the region in order to prevent further spread, the ministry said.
The recent outbreak is the first one in eight years, after the country suffered the outbreak in 2000 and 2002, which caused a fall in dairy exports.
