Confirmed Case of 'Lumpy Skin Disease' at Pyeongtaek Dairy Farm... Second Occurrence in South Korea

Quarantine Authorities Cull 92 Cattle at the Farm... Strengthen Quarantine Within 10km

A confirmed case of Lumpy Skin Disease (Lumpy Skin Disease) has been reported at a dairy farm in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, raising alarms among quarantine authorities.

On the 21st at around 12:30 PM, the Animal and Plant Quarantine Agency notified Pyeongtaek City that a sample taken from Farm A in Pyeongtaek tested positive for Lumpy Skin Disease after a detailed examination. This is the second confirmed case following the first domestic case at a Korean beef cattle farm in Seosan, Chungnam the previous day.

At Farm A in Pyeongtaek, a veterinarian who was treating a dairy cow showing symptoms of loss of appetite at around 3:40 PM the previous day reported a suspicion of Lumpy Skin Disease to the quarantine authorities. Subsequently, the Gyeonggi Provincial Animal Hygiene Laboratory collected samples from the dairy cows at the farm and conducted a primary test, which returned positive at around 11:30 PM the same day. The city sent the samples to the Quarantine Agency for detailed testing, which confirmed the diagnosis of Lumpy Skin Disease.

Accordingly, the Pyeongtaek quarantine authorities plan to cull all 92 dairy cows raised at the farm within the day. Additionally, the area within a 500-meter radius of the farm has been designated as a control zone to strengthen quarantine measures, and local health centers have been requested to carry out control measures against blood-sucking pests such as mosquitoes and ticks.

Furthermore, movement of 23,340 cattle raised at 343 farms within a 10 km radius is restricted until 2 PM on the 22nd, while surveillance is being intensified to check for any cattle showing abnormal symptoms. A Pyeongtaek quarantine official stated, "So far, there have been no additional suspected reports from other farms besides Farm A," and added, "We will thoroughly enforce quarantine measures to prevent any further confirmed cases."

Meanwhile, Lumpy Skin Disease is a viral disease that infects only cattle through blood-sucking insects such as mosquitoes, and it is designated as a first-class livestock infectious disease in South Korea. Infected cattle exhibit high fever and skin nodules (hard lumps) measuring 2 to 5 cm in diameter, with a mortality rate known to be below 10%. Lumpy Skin Disease first occurred in Zambia, Africa in 1929, spread to Eastern Europe and Russia from 2013, and has been reported to have spread to Asian countries since 2019.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.