BANGKOK – Thailand’s government has denied rumors of an outbreak of African swine fever that spread after media reports of the culling of pigs in Chiang Rai.
Deputy Agriculture Minister Prapat Pothasuthon said that no outbreak swine fever have been confirmed. Road checkpoints have been established to block the transport of pigs out of designated risk areas. Mostly along the border with Myanmar and Laos in Chiang Rai.
Thailand bars pig imports from Myanmar, which reported its first swine fever outbreak last month. Two other neighbors of Thailand, Laos and Cambodia, have also reported small outbreaks.
Chiang Rai’s Livestock Development Office Denies Outbreak
About 200 pigs in Chiang Rai were recently culled and tissue samples from them sent for laboratory testing.
It quoted Nopporn Mahakantha, chief of Chiang Rai’s Livestock Development Office, as saying the culling was a preventive measure against swing fever. Some pigs showed symptoms such as lassitude and poor appetite. and the pigs were culled as a precaution.
African swine fever is harmless to humans but very contagious and fatal for pigs. It has decimated herds in China and other Asian countries and there is no known cure.
African swine fever was first detected in Asia last August in China, wiping out nearly 40% of pigs in the world’s largest pork producer. It has since spread across Asia, affecting Mongolia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and the Philippines. South Korea is the latest country to confirm swine fever .
The virus causes a hemorrhagic fever with high mortality rates in domestic pigs. Some isolates can cause the death of animals as quickly as a week after infection according to Wikipedia.
The deadly pig-killing disease is continuing, with predictions the disease will wipe out 20 per cent of world meat protein by year’s end.
