#13,708
A little over 6 weeks ago China's MOA announced the first African Swine Fever outbreak in Tianjin (one of the 9 National Central Cities of China), located about 100km from Beijing.
While most of China's ASF action during the month of November has been relegated to the Southern provinces, today their MOA announces a second outbreak in Tianjin.Today's report comes just one week after the announcement that ASF had finally reached Beijing, and brings China's total to at least 80 outbreaks since August 1st (cite).
The Ninghe District of Tianjin Province has detected the epidemic situation of African swine fever
Date: 2018-11-30 10:17 Author: Source: Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Press Office
The Information Office of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs was released on November 29, and the Ninghe District of Tianjin Province detected the African swine fever epidemic.
At 21:00 on November 29, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs received a report from the China Animal Disease Prevention and Control Center and was diagnosed by the China Center for Animal Health and Epidemiology (National Center for Animal Disease Research).
A farm in Ninghe District of Tianjin was found in Africa. Pig plague. Up to now, the farm has 361 pigs and 67 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 measures have been implemented.
ASF has never been reported in North America, but the potential exists for its importation. The USDA has released a new African Swine Fever Factsheet that discusses their preparations for a possible introduction of the virus into this country.
(Excerpt)While ASF doesn't pose a direct health risk to humans, it is a serious threat to the pig industry - and with no vaccine available - the only way to control it is to cull all of the pigs that may have been exposed.
Keeping ASF Out
Because of the concern over ASF, USDA recently reviewed and further strengthened its longstanding stringent protections against the spread of the disease.These include:
- Collaborating with states, industry and producers to ensure everyone follows on-farm biosecurity and best practices (including for garbage feeding in states where that is allowed);
- Restricting imports of pork and pork products from affected countries; and
- Working with CBP staff at ports of entry to increase passenger and baggage screening for prohibited products from affected countries.
Meanwhile, ASF continues to make inroads in Europe, and further spread there and in Asia seems inevitable (see FAO: African swine fever (ASF) threatens to spread from China to other Asian countries).
