South Korea's animal quarantine authorities said Monday that one additional suspected case of the highly contagious animal illness foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) was reported at a farm in the southeastern part of the country, after 30 separate outbreaks were confirmed since late last month.
The Ministry of Agriculture said cattle raised at a small farm in Uiseong in North Gyeongsang Province showed symptoms of FMD, including excessive drooling and complete loss of appetite.
The ministry said a precautionary quarantine perimeter has been set up around the farm with detailed test results of the animals to be announced early Tuesday.
The farm is located 9.6 kilometers southwest of a cattle ranch in Yecheon that tested positive for the disease over the weekend. All animals at the ranch were culled and buried to prevent the spread of the disease.
Seoul, which first reported a FMD case in 2000, was hit again in 2002 and two more times earlier in this year.
Since the recent animal disease case was confirmed on Nov. 30, more than 88,600 heads of cattle and pigs have been slated to be culled.
FMD affects all cloven-hoofed animals such as cattle, pigs, deer, goats and buffalo and is classified as a "List A" disease by the Paris-based World Organization for Animal Health. Countries that report the disease are barred
from exporting meat from cloven-hoofed animals.
The ministry, meanwhile, said symptoms detected at a cattle farm in Cheongdo, 112 kilometers from where the first outbreak was reported, tested negative for FMD. Twenty-nine of the 30 confirmed cases were in Andong, some
270 kilometers from Seoul, with one reported in neighboring Yecheon.