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The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has warned Asia to urgently prepare for an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD), following its discovery in South Korea.
The agency said Thursday veterinary and border control authorities in Asia needed to be on alert as there were signs of animal infection by the livestock-affecting sickness.
"The current FMD dynamics in eastern Asia, as well as the magnitude of the outbreak in South Korea, are unlike anything that we've seen for at least a half century," FAO chief veterinary officer Juan Lubroth said.
"This makes preparedness and monitoring extremely important right now."
"Authorities in Asia should make sure they are in a position to detect any instances of the disease and respond rapidly in an appropriate way. FAO is advocating proactive vaccination campaigns designed to stop the spread of the disease," he said.
Subhash Morzaria, Asia Region Manager of FAO's Emergency Center for Transboundary Animal Disease Operations, said: "FMD must be tackled as a regional problem, which is why FAO through its Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific is planning to organize a meeting of chief veterinary officers of East Asian countries to discuss the current situation and possible coordinated responses."
Lubroth also said that, when responding to outbreaks, countries should adhere to accepted practices that adequately take animal welfare and environmental impacts into account.
Since late November 2010, South Korean authorities have imposed quarantine, initiated a vaccination campaign that is targeting nine million pigs and three million head of cattle and culled some 2.2 million livestock, with an overall cost of some 1.6 billion U.S. dollars, according to FAO.
XINHUA
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