First Lumpy Skin Disease Case in Jeju as Nationwide Vaccination Shifts to High-Risk Areas

【Financial News Jeju = Jung Yong-bok】 South Korea’s lumpy skin disease control system, which previously vaccinated all cattle nationwide, shifted this year to focus on high-risk areas. The first confirmed farms in Jeju, which had remained free of the disease, have now been identified. After infections were confirmed at two Korean beef cattle farms, Jeju Province decided to urgently deploy 42,500 doses of vaccine for all cattle across the province.
According to Jeju Special Self-Governing Province and the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (MAFRA) on the 11th, lumpy skin disease was reported for the first time at two Korean beef cattle farms in Jeju Province on the 8th.
Jeju Province imposed movement restrictions on the affected farms and carried out emergency pest control and disinfection. Emergency vaccinations were also completed for the cattle being raised at those farms.
Cattle that test positive in detailed examinations will be isolated on the farms. Unlike the previous practice of culling all cattle at an affected farm, authorities will isolate infected animals and manage them in accordance with quarantine procedures, allowing the culling process to be deferred.
Detailed examinations will be conducted periodically after 28 days of isolation. Movement restrictions will be lifted if the animals test negative.
The quarantine area has been expanded to cover all of Jeju Province. On the 8th, Jeju Province held a livestock disease control deliberation committee meeting and decided to conduct emergency mass vaccination at all cattle farms across the province. The Animal and Plant Quarantine Agency (APQA) will supply vaccines for 42,500 cattle on the 10th, and vaccinations are scheduled to be completed by the 30th.
Farmers will generally be responsible for administering the vaccines themselves, while government-designated veterinarians will be dispatched to support small farms with fewer than 50 cattle.
About 700 farms in Jeju currently raise approximately 42,000 cattle. The emergency vaccine supply is therefore sufficient to vaccinate virtually all cattle in the province at once.
This outbreak is drawing attention because it occurred in the first year of a shift in the national lumpy skin disease control strategy. Since the first domestic outbreak in 2023, the government had conducted nationwide mass vaccination of cattle. Starting this year, however, it shifted from blanket nationwide vaccination to a system that focuses vaccine deployment on high-risk areas, reflecting outbreak patterns and risk assessments under a medium- and long-term disease-control plan.
The related budget was also sharply reduced. The lumpy skin disease vaccine budget fell from 15.4 billion won last year to 4 billion won this year, a decrease of 11.4 billion won, or 74.0%. The government has explained that the program was scaled back based on the decline in outbreaks and risk assessments.
Lumpy skin disease was first confirmed in South Korea in October 2023, with 107 cases reported that year. The number fell to 24 in 2024, and no cases were reported last year. As outbreaks resumed this year, the total had risen to 19 cases as of September. The cumulative number of domestic cases is 150.
The disease’s legal management classification is also changing. Following an amendment to the Act on the Prevention of Contagious Animal Diseases in March, lumpy skin disease was reclassified from a Class 1 to a Class 2 livestock infectious disease. The government is shifting the focus of its response away from blanket culling and broad movement controls toward managing infected animals and affected farms, combined with vaccination and control of vector insects.
Lumpy skin disease is a viral disease that infects only cattle. Symptoms include high fever and skin nodules, and blood-sucking insects such as mosquitoes and stable flies are the main vectors of transmission.
Jeju Province has deployed disinfection vehicles and a joint agricultural and livestock cooperative pest-control team around the affected farms to carry out disinfection and control vector insects.
The key issues to determine going forward are the epidemiological links between the two affected farms and the route of infection. Whether additional positive cases are found in tests of nearby farms, and how quickly the emergency vaccine supply for 42,500 cattle leads to actual vaccinations, will also influence whether the disease spreads.
Because Jeju is an island, identifying the routes by which livestock diseases enter the province is particularly important. The epidemiological investigation must examine not only the movement of cattle, livestock vehicles, feed, and equipment, but also the possibility of transmission by blood-sucking insects.
Kim Young-jun, head of Jeju Province’s Agriculture and Livestock Food Bureau, said, "As lumpy skin disease has been reclassified as a Class 2 livestock infectious disease, disease control by farmers themselves has become even more important." He added, "Please strictly follow farm disease-control rules, including controlling vector insects, disinfecting vehicles and outsiders entering the farm, and carrying out emergency vaccinations."


[email protected] Jung Yong-bok Reporter