South Korea has issued a rabies alert after a dog tested positive for the potentially deadly disease, the country’s Farm Ministry said Saturday.

The Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries said a dog on a farm in Hwaseong 55, southwest of Seoul, tested positive for rabies. Local quarantine officials have been ordered to inoculate all domestic animals in the vicinity of the farm and to conduct decontamination.

Also called hydrophobia, rabies is a contagious zoonotic disease, meaning it can be passed from animals to humans. It is usually contracted when domestic pets or livestock come in contact with infected wild animals such as raccoons.

Thanks to comprehensive inoculation, South Korea reported no rabies cases from 1985 through 1992, but a case was reported in the mountainous Gangwon Province in 1993. Isolated cases have since been reported, primarily near the demilitarized zone that separates South and North Korea, with four cases discovered in 2011.

Seoul has set aside 952 million won ($840,000) for rabies vaccines this year and another 2.40 billion won for drugs that can be mixed with food to help prevent pets from catching the disease. 

(Yonhap News)