Epidemiological Characteristics of Foot-and-Mouth Disease in the Republic of Korea, 2014-2019

This study describes the epidemiological characteristics of six epidemics of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) in the Republic of Korea between 2014 and 2019. A total of 223 outbreaks had been confirmed in 40 municipalities across nine provinces. Most farms with FMD (194, 87%) were located in three densely populated livestock areas (Chungcheongnam-do, Gyeonggi-do, and Chungcheongbuk-do). More cases of FMD were found in farms with more than 1,000 pigs or 50 cattle (risk ratios = 1.27 for pigs; 9.46 for Korean native cattle) and fattening pigs. In farms affected by FMD, the proportion of animals with vaccine antibodies was low (5%-50% for Korean native beef cattle farms with FMD in 2017 vs. 97.5% in the surveillance in 2016). Effective control of FMD can be achieved through strict biosecurity measures, proper vaccination, regionalized management, and instilling awareness of FMD prevention in farmers.