Yahoo News 28 Apr 10;
ROME (AFP) – The UN food agency called Wednesday for stepped-up surveillance for food-and-mouth disease after three outbreaks in Japan and South Korea.
"In the past nine years, incursions into officially FMD-free countries... have been extremely rare, so to have three such events in four months is a serious cause for concern," said the chief veterinary officer of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).
"We are worried because the rigorous biosecurity measures in place in the two countries were overwhelmed, pointing to a recent, large-scale weight of infection in source areas, very probably in the Far East," Juan Lubroth added.
"Under the circumstances we consider that all countries are at risk and a review of preventive measures and response capacity would be welcome," he said.
"Even one small outbreak in a previously FMD-free country can cause millions of dollars of losses as global markets close and disease control measures are enforced," Lubroth warned.
Foot-and-mouth disease affects cloven-hoofed animals including cows, sheep, goats and deer. It is rarely transmitted to humans but spreads easily between animals, causing them pain and often killing young animals.
