Epidemiology of the Foot-and-Mouth Disease Serotype O Epidemic of November 2010 to April 2011 in the Republic Of Korea

Abstract

The largest epidemic of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) in Korea since the first record in 1911 occurred between November 2010 and April 2011. The outbreak was confirmed in 153 farms, and more than three million animals were destroyed. This study presents the temporal and spatial distribution patterns, epidemiological investigation and the control measures for the 2010/2011 epidemic in Korea. The index case of this 2010/2011 FMD epidemic was reported in a pig-farming complex with five piggeries in Andong, GyeongBuk Province, on 28 November 2010, and the outbreak lasted 145 days. The largest number of new detection of the infected farms per day was recorded in mid-January. Epidemiological investigation revealed that the FMD virus had spread from farm to farm through routine movements associated with animal husbandry operations. In contrast to FMD epidemics in other countries in which movement of the infected animals largely contributed to the spread of the disease, human behaviours were major factors in the spread of the FMD virus in the Korean epidemic. The 2010/2011 epidemic was first confirmed in a local small and medium city where share of smallholder producers is higher than that of other provinces. Although Korea had a well-developed emergent response system with the experience of controlling infection and re-obtaining FMD-free status after the previous epidemics, Korea was prompted to revise their contingency plan by tailoring it to its unique livestock environment. Practical contingency plans tailored to Korea for control of FMD can be fully effective when farmers, livestock-related agencies, veterinary service providers and the general public work together.

Estimating Resource Requirements to Staff a Response to a Medium to Large Outbreak of Foot and Mouth Disease in Australia

“…The delay may have been associated with failure to recognize atypical clinical signs of FMD in water buffalo (Nishiura and Omori, ). The 2010–2011 outbreak in Korea was detected within 15 days of disease entry but by that time, 75 farms had already been infected (Yoon et al., ). Each of these countries is geographically small compared with Australia, and therefore, the potential exists for much greater geographical spread in Australia.…”

Clinical and virological dynamics of a serotype O 2010 South East Asia lineage foot-and-mouth disease virus in sheep using natural and simulated natural inoculation and exposure systems

“…The field virus designated FMDV O/SKR/2010, NVRQS10, isolate 1012_49V was derived from vesicular fluid collected on December 2010 from a bovine with clinical FMD in Paju county, Gyeonggi province, Republic of Korea (Yoon et al, 2013). The virus was passed once in Holstein cattle before being used to inoculate sheep in the current study.…”

Semi‐quantitative assessment of disease risks at the human, livestock, wildlife interface for the Republic of Korea using a nationwide survey of experts: A model for other countries

“…Biogeographically, Korea is largely mountainous with wetlands and coastal tidal areas, and has a diverse biota with a large number of endemic species, including over 20,000 animal species (Biodiversity of Korea, Korea Ministry of Environment, unpublished report; http://eng.me.go.kr/eng/web/board/read.do?pagerOffset=10&maxPageItems=10&maxIndexPages=10&searchKey=&searchValue=&menuId=198&orgCd=&boardId=67&boardMasterId=535&boardCategoryId=&decorator=). Due to the high risk of interaction of humans, livestock and wildlife, the Korean peninsula has been identified as one of the “hotspots” for disease emergence (Jones et al., ) and has recently experienced multiple outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI; Kim et al., ), foot‐and‐mouth disease (Yoon et al., ) and an outbreak of Middle Eastern respiratory syndrome (MERS‐CoV; Kim et al., ). In addition, pathogens that could threaten the persistence of wildlife species such as Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis in amphibians have been detected (Bataille et al., ).…”