Foot-and-mouth disease spreads to Japan`s No. 1 livestock center

MIYAZAKI, Japan, June 10 Kyodo -
Foot-and-mouth disease has spread within Miyazaki Prefecture to a city serving
as Japan's largest livestock industry center after three cows in Miyakonojo
tested positive for the highly contagious disease in genetic tests, local
officials said Thursday.
Also, cows in the uninfected city of Hyuga and an unaffected area in the city
of Saito, both in Miyazaki, are now suspected of being infected based on
symptoms they are showing, farm ministry officials said.
In the city of Miyazaki, the prefectural capital, three pigs were also found
highly likely to be infected, marking the first case of suspected infection
there.
Located about 50 kilometers from the hardest-hit town of Kawaminami in the
southwestern Japanese prefecture and bordering Kagoshima Prefecture, the
outbreak in Miyakonojo shows the failure of the central and local governments
to contain the epidemic devastating local livestock.
The Miyazaki prefectural government said it has culled all 208 cows at the same
farm as the three cows concerned in the city which ranked top among
municipalities as producer of pork and beef in terms of value in 2006.
It will also slaughter all animals at the farms in Hyuga, north of Kawaminami,
where a cow is newly suspected of being infected, and Saito, southwest of
Kawaminami, where two are suspected among some 580 cows, the officials said.
In Tokyo, the government led by new Prime Minister Naoto Kan began discussing
how to contain the disease's spread as its first case of crisis management.
''We've reached a critical point, a perilous point,'' Kan said at a meeting,
adding, ''I understand that an immediate response is of paramount importance
and would like to tackle the problem with great urgency.''
The central government said it will send an additional 30 Self-Defense Forces
personnel and 140 police officers to Miyazaki Prefecture to strengthen
disinfection work at farms and national highways there.
In Kagoshima Prefecture, also a livestock production center adjacent to
Miyazaki Prefecture to the southwest, Gov. Yuichiro Ito said the situation is
in a ''quasi state of emergency'' and that his prefectural government will
immediately study any possible action.
Ito told reporters he may issue an order to close some roads and conduct full
quarantine checks on motor vehicles.
It would be the city's first case of infection if it tests positive for the
disease, officials said.
Meanwhile, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshito Sengoku said at a morning news
conference that he has received a report from the Environment Ministry stating
that wild animals are the cause of the spread of the disease to Miyakonojo.
On Wednesday, three cows in Miyakonojo were suspected of being infected with
foot-and-mouth disease as they had shown symptoms such as salivation and sores
on their tongues.
The Miyazaki prefectural government had slaughtered all the cows at the farm in
question by early Thursday before obtaining results of genetic tests.
It also asked farmers around the farm not to go out of their homes and launched
checks on the cows in the area.
The prefectural government plans to impose a ban Thursday on moving livestock
within a 10-km radius of the farm and transporting animals from areas within a
20-km radius in hope of preventing the further spread of the disease.
Since foot-and-mouth disease broke out in Miyazaki Prefecture in late April,
about 270,000 cows and pigs have been slaughtered as part of efforts to contain
the spread of the disease.
Last week, the Miyazaki government lifted a transfer ban on livestock in Ebino
and its vicinity, including areas in Kumamoto and Kagoshima prefectures, saying
no signs of foot-and-mouth disease have since been found in the inland city.
==Kyodo