North Korea FMD outbreak

- Published: 12 March, 2007

Hundreds of cows and pigs in North Korea have been slaughtered after an outbreak of foot and mouth disease, according to the World Organisation for Animal Health, a news report has revealed.

The outbreak originally occurred in January at a farm in the capital, Pyongyang, sickening 431 cows, according to a North Korean government report that was posted on the Web site of the Paris-based animal health agency, known by the initials OIE.

According to the report, since the outbreak, quarantine officials have killed 466 cows, including the sickened ones, as well as 2,630 pigs to prevent the spread of the disease, the North's Agricultural Ministry said.

Some 100,000 animals within the 44-mile radius of the outbreak site will be vaccinated, it added.

The sickened cows were imported from Tieling, China, the report said.