Miyazaki Pref. declares state of emergency over foot-and-mouth disease

TOKYO, May 19 Kyodo -
Miyazaki Gov. Hideo Higashikokubaru declared a state of emergency in the
prefecture on Tuesday over the outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in cows and
pigs, warning the infection could spread across Japan.
''We are in a situation where it is impossible to halt the spread'' of the
disease, the governor said at a news conference, urging residents in areas
affected by the outbreak to refrain from going outside unless necessary.
''The risk of the infection spreading to the Kyushu area or all over the
country cannot be denied,'' he added.
Higashikokubaru also called for events and gatherings that will draw large
crowds to be postponed even outside the affected areas, underscoring the
severity of the outbreak.
In Tokyo, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fishers held a meeting of
an expert panel on tackling the foot-and-mouth disease issue, during which its
members generally agreed that the use of vaccines should be considered as it
has become quite difficult to prevent its spread only by the slaughter.
As of Tuesday, around 118,000 domesticated cows and pigs at 131 farms and
facilities in Miyazaki Prefecture were subject to slaughter, according to the
prefectural government.
Farm minister Hirotaka Akamatsu said Japan will consider taking ''all-out''
measures to stem the spread of the infection, hinting at the use of vaccines
within affected areas and the slaughter of all livestock in neighboring farms
as a preventative step.
Akamatsu, however, ruled out the possibility of carrying out a slaughter across
the entire prefecture, citing violation of property rights.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications decided, meanwhile, to
cover all of the losses of farm families that have disposed of livestock to
prevent the disease spreading with state subsidies, it said.
The ministry apparently aims to ease the burdens on farm families and local
governments in their efforts to prevent the disease spreading.
The central government admitted the same day that the handling of the disease
may have been insufficient after it became known that local authorities
overlooked the infection during an on-site inspection in late March.
''There may have been certain problems as regards having done everything we
could to prevent the expansion,'' Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama told reporters.
''The government will be united in working to avert further expansion of the
infection, especially so people in the Kyushu area will feel safe,'' he added.
Local livestock health officials examined a farm in Miyazaki Prefecture about
three weeks before three cows were confirmed to be infected with the disease on
April 23.
But they failed to consider the possibility of an infection due to the absence
of commonly recognized symptoms, according to prefectural officials.
It also took about 10 days for officials to carry out genetic screening of a
cow suspected to have the disease on a separate farm on April 20 after
discovering a symptom suggesting foot-and-mouth.
''It is a characteristic of foot-and-mouth disease that the virus tends to
spread easily,'' said Yoshitaka Goto, a professor at the University of
Miyazaki. ''If thorough measures had been taken in March, the infection might
not have spread this far.''
As the disease spread in Miyazaki Prefecture, people close to the matter said
Oita Prefecture plans to distribute a total of 36 breeding cattle across
several farms in the prefecture to protect them from infection.
==Kyodo