South Korea has confirmed three additional foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) cases at local farms, putting the number of cases at 10 this year, the agriculture ministry said Tuesday.
Two of the cases were found at a beef cattle farm and a goat farm in Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province, some 112 kilometers south of Seoul, with the third one discovered at another beef cattle farm in Jeungpyeong County in the same province, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs.
It is the first time since this year's outbreak started that an FMD case has been reported at a goat farm. All of the other nine cases were confirmed at beef cattle farms.
Authorities said they sent officials to the farms for quarantine and disinfection work to prevent the spread of the contagious animal disease.
All of the cattle from the latest three cases will be culled.
As a severe and highly transmissible viral disease, FMD causes illness in cows, pigs, goats and other cloven-hoofed animals. It does not affect humans.
Source: Yonhap News Agency