Taiwan: COA allegedly covered up FMD outbreak

Allegedly the public was not told about a Foot and Mouth (FMD) disease outbreak which occurred in Changhua County in 2009. The Council of Agriculture (COA) has been accused of covering up the disease announcement.

According to Changhua County’s Animal Disease Control Center, a pig farm was found to have an outbreak of FMD on 8 Feb 2009 in Beidou Township. The disease was confirmed and the centre notified the council on 9 Feb. In effect, 23 pigs were culled and livestock was not permitted to be moved from the farm at the time.

However, the outbreak was not announced to the public until 18 Feb when the same farm had another outbreak, affecting 586 pigs which were culled. The centre then confirmed the O-type Foot and Mouth disease and informed the World Organisation for Animal Health.

Source: Taipei Times