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HEALTH-CHINA-LIVESTOCK-ANIMALS-DISEASE
China culls 38,000 pigs as swine fever spreads
BEIJING, Sept 2, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – More than 38,000 pigs have been culled
across China, state media said Sunday, as the world’s largest pork producer
scrambles to contain an outbreak of African swine fever.
The disease has been discovered in five Chinese provinces, the official
Xinhua news service reported, quoting statistics from the country’s ministry
of agriculture.
China reported its first case of the disease in August in northeast
Liaoning province.
Since then the disease has moved south, with cases discovered as far as
1,000 kilometres (600 miles) away, raising concerns it could infect pig farms
across the country.
Although the virus has continued to spread, a spokesman for the agriculture
ministry said it is “generally under control,” Xinhua reported.
Last week, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization warned the disease
could spread to other parts of Asia.
African swine fever is not harmful to humans but causes haemorrhagic fever
in domesticated pigs and wild boar that almost always ends in death within a
few days.
There is no antidote or vaccine, and the only known method to prevent the
disease from spreading is a mass cull of the infected livestock.
Beijing said an emergency plan had been launched and control measures taken
to halt the spread of the disease.
The FAO warned in May of the risk of the spread of African swine fever from
Russia.
Around half of the world’s pigs are raised in China, and the Chinese are
the biggest consumers of pork per capita, according to the FAO.
BSS/AFP/RY/1730 hrs