Avian Flu Diary: China: MOA Reports Another African Swine Flu Outbreak In Jilin Province

Jilin Province, China - Credit Wikipedia

#13,540

Seven days ago Jilin became the 8th Chinese Province and/or territory to report an outbreak of African Swine Fever since the virus was first detected in that nation in early August.

Today, China's MOA reports a second outbreak in Jilin Province, more than 100 km from the first outbreak.

First this translated report from China's Ministry of Agriculture, then I'll return with a postscript.

Songyuan City, Jilin Changling County African swine fever outbreaks occur

Date: 2018-09-28 11:46 Author: Source: Agriculture and Rural Department of Public Information Office

Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Press Office 9 Yue 28 released, Changling County, Songyuan City, Jilin Province, African swine fever epidemic occurred in pigs.

9 Yue 28 Ri , the Ministry of agriculture and rural areas to the control center reported Chinese animal epidemic prevention, the China Animal Health and Epidemiology Center (National Center for Exotic Animal Disease Research) confirmed Changling County, Songyuan City, Jilin Province, a farmers occurrence of African swine fever epidemic. The farmers herds of pigs 44 heads incidence 8 head death 3 headers.

After the outbreak, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural immediately sent a steering group to the local. Started as required by local emergency response mechanism, to take the blockade, culling measures to deal with harmless treatment, disinfection, culling of all pigs died and sound processing. Meanwhile, the ban on all live pigs and susceptible animals and products into or out of the blockade zone . Currently the epidemic has been effectively disposed of.

In the not quite two months since ASF was first reported in China we've seen roughly 2 dozen outbreaks, spread across 8 regions of Northeastern China. The exact number is difficult to pin down because the MOA announcements don't exactly match the notifications from the OIE.

There are also always concerns that some smallholders may not report pig deaths, fearing a visit from the government and the loss of other animals, as we've seen in the past with avian flu in poultry.

While we aren't getting ASF updates on a daily basis the MOA, they are coming in at a worrying rate. There seems little doubt that the African Swine Fever virus has already become well established in China, and that it had likely been circulating there for months before it was identified and announced last month.

Complicating matters, there are reports - similar to what we saw last year in Russia with avian flu - of falsified veterinarian certificates being used to illegally move and sell pigs (see Reuters Report China detains four for transporting pigs amid swine fever outbreaks).

For more on the threat of ASF to China, its neighbors, Europe, and potentially the world, you may wish to revisit: