Such is the situation and yet people are unaware of how serious it can be since national and local authorities are not doing enough and not responding in a transparent fashion. Reportedly infected cows have been slaughtered in secret, and domestic cows from infected areas have been put on the market without going through the required inspection. It is pathetic that it has been three years since the first case was discovered and yet the authorities still have not ascertained what the full situation is. The experts are saying that there are probably already close to 500 human cases in Korea.
Health authorities need to inform the public of the situation and the danger in order to prevent the spread of the disease, and minimize instances where people who become infected because of carelessness or ignorance don't receive timely treatment. The right way to go about fighting a contagious disease is to keep the public accurately informed and instigate disease prevention measures. There have been many times when government authorities made things worse by trying to keep them quiet out of fear of public reaction. Do not they say that many times ranchers and veterinarians become infected because ample prevention measures are not in place, and that one infected people have had brucellosis become more serious because they didn't know what it was? The country was already feeling uneasy because there continue to be outbreaks of diseases that move from animals to humans. That makes it especially important that policy is transparent. If people are unable to trust the authorities the fears can increase dramatically because the dangers get exaggerated. Both humans and animals are exposed to this disease, so there needs to be a multi-faceted response that includes joint action by the responsible agencies.
The Hankyoreh, 14 November 2005.
[Translations by Seoul Selection]
