South Korea confirms first swine fever outbreak

Credit to Author: Tempo Desk| Date: Tue, 17 Sep 2019 04:43:40 +0000

South Korea on Tuesday reported its first cases of African swine fever, becoming the latest country hit by the disease that has killed pigs from China to North Korea, pushing up pork prices worldwide.

Five pigs found dead at a farm in Paju, a city near the inter-Korean border, were confirmed to have been infected with the virus, an official with Seoul’s agriculture ministry told AFP.

“At this point, it’s too early to confirm if the case stemmed from the North,” the official added.

Seoul’s agriculture minister Kim Hyun-soo said 3,950 pigs from three farms in Paju were to be culled.

The virus is not harmful to humans but causes hemorrhagic fever in pigs that is almost always fatal.

There is no antidote or vaccine and the only known way to prevent the disease from spreading is a mass cull of affected livestock.

The confirmed cases in the South came around three months after Pyongyang told the World Organization f
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