Miyazaki cow tests positive for foot-and-mouth disease

[tetano]

A cow in the city of Miyazaki has tested positive for foot-and-mouth disease in gene tests after showing symptoms of the livestock disease, including excessive salivation, the farm ministry said Monday.
The Miyazaki prefectural government had slaughtered and buried all 16 cows bred at the same farm by Monday morning before the results of the gene tests were known, local government officials said.
With the new case, the prefectural government will have to postpone its plan to declare an end to the outbreak in the southwestern Japanese prefecture from July 16 to 27 at the earliest.
There had been no suspected or confirmed case of the livestock disease since June 18, when a cow at a farm in the city of Miyazaki was suspected of infection.
''It's extremely regrettable,'' said Gov. Hideo Higashikokubaru at a meeting called to consider countermeasures. ''We will all work on the matter once again by thoroughly investigating the suspected route of infection.''
The latest case was discovered at a farm located about 800 meters from the one at which the suspected case on June 18 occurred, according to the local government.
The prefectural government had lifted some restrictions on Thursday, including a request to postpone public events, in areas other than those under livestock movement restrictions, after completing the slaughter of about 276,000 cows and pigs.
The decision remains unaffected by the new case, the governor said, because the farm in question is located within the area where livestock movement has already been restricted.
The local government had been conducting tests on livestock in the prefecture with a view to lifting restrictions on livestock movements in the city on July 11, planning to declare an end to the outbreak, which began in April, across the prefecture on July 16.
Health officials have culled livestock after vaccination within a 10-kilometer radius of farms in the town of Kawaminami and other municipalities, where many cows and pigs were found to be infected with foot-and-mouth disease. The farm involved in the latest case is not in the area covered by the measure.
Under farm ministry rules, 21 days must elapse in principle after the last slaughter of livestock suspected of foot-and-mouth disease before relevant restrictions can be lifted.
The farm ministry said all livestock in the city of Saito, under examination by the local prefectural government since June 28, have proved negative in antibody tests.
The Miyazaki prefectural government therefore will lift restrictions on livestock movement in areas around affected farms in the city at Monday midnight.

http://home.kyodo.co.jp/modules/fstStory/index.php?storyid=510391

 

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Re: Miyazaki cow tests positive for foot-and-mouth disease

Disease takes toll on Japanese beef exports

By Michiyo Nakamoto in Miyazaki
Published: July 18 2010 17:07 | Last updated: July 18 2010 17:07

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For months, Nagahisa Komoda resisted government pressure to cull his prized stud bulls in the south-western Japanese prefecture of Miyazaki.

This weekend, however, the farmer?s six stud bulls joined more than 280,000 cows and pigs that have been slaughtered in Miyazaki amid a devastating outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease.

The epidemic has forced Japan to halt most exports of its internationally renowned wagyu beef, famous for its marbled texture, tenderness, flavour and astronomical price.

Beef exports, which rose steadily to a record 676 tonnes worth Y4.5bn ($52m, ?40m, ?34m) last year, have ground to a virtual halt. Shipments plunged from 77 tonnes in April to just nine tonnes in May as key markets including the US and Singapore closed their doors. Among the meat?s big markets, only Hong Kong and Macao are still accepting imports and then only from designated slaughterhouses unaffected by the outbreak.

The highly contagious disease has paralysed the local economy and spread panic to other beef-producing regions, including Matsuzaka and Kobe. While their brands are better known internationally, breeders in both cattle-raising regions count on supplies of calves from Miyazaki.
Miyazaki has had to cull nearly a fifth of its cows since May and close its cattle and pig markets. The prefecture has lost 50 out of 55 stud bulls, used to sire calves with just the right amount of fat that makes them so desirable to Japanese cattle breeders.

One of the most damaging losses was Tadafuji, one of six super-studs whose seed is not allowed out of the prefecture and commands premium prices.

?When I heard about the first case . . . I knew we would have to deal with it swiftly because I was aware of how serious this disease is,? says Yasuto Mito, executive director of the Miyazaki prefectural union of agricultural co-operatives. ?But I did not imagine that it would become this big a disaster.?

Many farmers have lost entire herds and incomes, particularly in central Miyazaki where ?there is not a single cow remaining?, says Toshio Mori, general manager of agricultural policy at the co-operative.

Ryuji Maezono, who protected his herd from the disease, has been as financially damaged as a neighbour whose cattle were infected and culled since the closure of the markets has stopped sales, even of healthy animals. Unlike his neighbour, Mr Maezono is unlikely to receive any support from the government.

Since the state of emergency was declared, economic activity around Miyazaki has dropped dramatically. ?Seed companies that supply farmers, construction companies that build facilities for the agricultural sector and even printers which supply labels for the tubes in which stud seed is sold say they cannot do business at all,? says Shigeru Matsuyama at the Miyazaki chamber of commerce.

Public events are cancelled, community centres and other facilities are closed, and visitors are scarce.

?When the state of emergency was called, that is when the nightmare began,? says Tatsuo Matsushita, president of Hotel Century Miyazaki.

?Without customers, the laundry companies don?t get our orders, we don?t use electricity, taxis don?t get business so petrol doesn?t sell . . . I have been in the hotel business for 40 years but this is the first time that I have experienced such a situation.?

In spite of Miyazaki?s best efforts to contain the disease, including sterilisation of vehicles and people, goods and visitors from the region are not always welcome in other parts of Japan.

?Miyazaki itself is seen to have some kind of virus, not just our pigs and cows,? says Mr Mori.

With the massive culling, sterilisation and other measures apparently having an effect, local residents are waiting for the disease to run its course, in the hope that life can return to normal.

In spite of a partial lifting of the state of emergency on Friday, and throughout the prefecture this month, it will take years for Miyazaki to rebuild its cattle population and revive the market status of its beef.

Some worry that the farming community will never fully recover.

?We already faced the problems of ageing [farmers] and poor profitability and then this came and it was like receiving a blow from left and right,? says Motoshi Inaizumi, who raises pigs.

?When you think about how this will affect agriculture here, it?s scary,? he says.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/7a9d5644-9284-11df-9142-00144feab49a.html

 

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Re: Miyazaki cow tests positive for foot-and-mouth disease

Japan Lifts Beef, Pork Shipment Ban in Miyazaki as Foot-and-Mouth Fades

<CITE class=byline>By Aya Takada -<SCRIPT type=text/javascript>document.write(dateFormat(new Date(1280207362000),"mmm d, yyyy h:MM TT Z"));</SCRIPT> Jul 27, 2010 12:09 AM CDT Tue Jul 27 05:09:22 UTC 2010</CITE>

Japan lifted a ban on beef and pork shipments from all farms in southern Miyazaki prefecture, normalizing domestic trade three months after an outbreak of foot-and-mouth led to the largest cull in the nation?s history.
Livestock shipments from the second-largest hog-farming prefecture can resume, the Miyazaki government said today in a statement. No cases of the disease have been found in the past three weeks after about 288,370 animals were culled to contain it since April 20, when the first case was reported, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.

The resumption will boost meat supply in Japan, potentially curbing demand for imported pork and beef, as Miyazaki is also the third-largest farming region for beef cattle. Foot-and-mouth is one of the most contagious livestock diseases and can have high mortality rates in young animals, according to the Paris- based World Organization for Animal Health, or OIE.

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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-...-ban-in-miyazaki-as-foot-and-mouth-fades.html