Avian Flu Diary: China MOA: 3 More ASF Outbreaks In Guizhou Province

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Yesterday, Guizhou became China's third southern province to declare an outbreak of African Swine Fever this week (see previous outbreaks here, and here). Today, we've an MOA announcement of 3 more outbreaks in Guizhou, which appear to be within about 50km of the first outbreak.

African swine fever epidemic in Qixingguan District, Bijie City, Guizhou Province

Date: 2018-10-26 18:57 Author: Source: Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Press Office [Font: Big Middle Small】 Print

The Information Office of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs was released on October 26, and an African pig swine epidemic occurred in the Qixingguan District of Bijie City, Guizhou Province.

At 16:00 on October 26, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs received a report from the China Center for Animal Disease Control and Prevention. The samples submitted by the Guizhou Provincial Center for Animal Disease Control and Prevention were diagnosed as African by the China Center for Animal Health and Epidemiology (National Center for Animal Disease Research). Swine fever.

The positive samples were from three farmers in a village in Qixingguan District, Bijie City, Guizhou Province. The three farmers had 49 pigs, 25 diseases and 25 deaths.

Immediately after the outbreak, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs sent a steering group to the local area. The local government has started the emergency response mechanism as required, and adopted measures such as blockade, culling, harmless treatment, disinfection, etc., to treat all the sick and culled pigs harmlessly. At the same time, all pigs and their products are prohibited from being transferred out of the blockade, and pigs are prohibited from being transported into the blockade. At present, the above epidemic has been effectively disposed of.

While China continues to insist they have this epidemic under control, the spread to 4 new provinces over the past 10 days (Shanxi, Yunnan, Hunan & Guizhou) suggests the virus is probably more widespread than has been reported.

While ASF doesn't pose a health risk to humans, it is truly a nightmare for pig producers - and with no vaccine available - the only way to control it is to cull all of the pigs that may have been exposed.

Meanwhile, ASF continues to make inroads in Europe as well, and further spread seems inevitable (see FAO: African swine fever (ASF) threatens to spread from China to other Asian countries).