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SEOUL, Oct. 21 (Yonhap) — The Republic of Korea has identified further occurrences of lumpy skin disease (LSD) in cows at three farms on Saturday.
This follows the country’s first case of LSD being discovered at a farm in Seosan, located around 98 kilometers southwest of Seoul, the day before.
The second incident of LSD was reported at a farm in Pyeongtaek, located 60 kilometers south of the capital, where a milk cow exhibiting signs of LSD was sampled on Friday.
A third case was confirmed at a cattle farm in Dangjin, just north of Seosan, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs.
The fourth instance was reported from a Seosan farm located within a 3-kilometer radius of the farm that experienced the initial LSD case the day before, according to local officials.
LSD is a highly infectious disease that causes skin lesions, fever, and loss of appetite, often leading to a decrease in milk production and even death. It affects cows and buffaloes through mosquitoes and other blood-feeding insects.
Under the country’s health protocol, the government has put up a barrier around the affected farms, with all 92 heads of cattle at the Pyeongtaek farm and some 40 cows at the farm in Dangjin set to be culled, according to the agriculture ministry.
A standstill order is also in effect on all farms and related facilities within a 10 kilometer radius of the affected farms until 2 p.m. Sunday, the ministry said.
The government intends to vaccinate some 53,000 heads of cattle in areas near the affected farms, it added.
A quarantine official blocks a road leading to a pig farm in Hwacheon, Gangwon Province, northeastern South Korea, on Sept. 26, 2023, after another case of African swine fever was confirmed there. (Yonhap)
bdk@yna.co.kr
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