Jeonnam Lab Serves as Livestock Disease Reporting Center During Lunar New Year

[위키트리 광주전남취재본부 노해섭 기자]Jeollanam-do Animal Health Testing Laboratory announced that it will operate a reporting center to quickly respond to reports of livestock infectious diseases from livestock farms during the Lunar New Year holiday.

When a suspected livestock infectious disease such as foot-and-mouth disease, avian influenza, or African swine fever (ASF) is reported, the Animal Contagious Disease Reporting Center is quickly dispatched to the scene to collect samples and diagnose the disease. We plan to organize 5 classes with 3 people per group and run them from the 14th to the 18th during the holiday period.

This is a preemptive measure to prevent gaps in livestock quarantine as concerns grow about additional outbreaks of livestock infectious diseases due to the successive outbreaks of African swine fever in pig farms in Chungnam, Jeonnam, Jeonbuk, and Gyeongnam and the outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in cattle farms in Incheon.

Jeonnam Provincial Animal Hygiene Laboratory urges livestock farms to strictly follow biosecurity rules, such as blocking outsiders from entering the farm as much as possible during the Lunar New Year holiday, when there is a lot of population movement, refraining from visiting other livestock farms, and disinfecting the livestock and surrounding areas of the farm daily.

Jeong Ji-young, director of the Jeonnam Provincial Animal Hygiene Laboratory, said, “As there is a lot of movement of people and vehicles during the Lunar New Year holiday, the possibility of outbreaks of livestock infectious diseases increases, so livestock farms must prevent the inflow of diseases through thorough disinfection and biosecurity.” He added, “Check livestock carefully at any time, and if an infectious disease is suspected, report it immediately to the nearest quarantine agency such as the city or county or to the hotline (1588-4060).”