Avian Flu Diary: MOA Joint Statement On `Very Serious' Spread Of ASF & New Outbreak In Hubei

Another Outbreak In Hubei Province

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With half (n=17) of China's 34 provincial-level administrative units (i.e. provinces, municipal cities, Autonomous regions, & SARs) already having reported African Swine Fever - including several of the large pork producing provinces in the south - it is fair to say the virus has become well entrenched.

As the world's largest pig producer and consumer of pork, the continued spread of this virus could has serious, even devastating impacts on China's economy and food supply.

Overnight the Ministry of Agriculature, in an unusual joint statement with the Ministry of Public Security (China's principal police and security agency) and the Ministry of Transport, issued the starkest warnings yet, describing the situation:

At present, the situation of prevention and control of pig swine in Africa is very serious. The epidemic has occurred in 17 provinces and has been introduced to the province of pig breeding in the southern hinterland of China.

Citing both improper cleaning and disinfection of livestock transport vehicles and the illegal movement of pigs by `some lawless elements', this statement announces what appears to be a coordinated crackdown by all three Ministries.

The heavy involvement of the Ministry of Public Security in this announcement signals just how seriously China takes this threat.

A couple of snippets from a much longer document (Public Notice on Strengthening the Supervision of transporting pigs) include:

(Translated Excerpts)

According to the epidemiological survey results, long-distance transportation of pigs is the main reason for the spread of epidemics across the region. It does not meet the animal epidemic prevention requirements and the uncleaned and disinfected transport vehicles have a high risk of epidemic transmission.

At the same time, some lawless elements, driven by interests, have transferred pigs from high-risk provinces in violation of laws and regulations, and some areas have caused African swine fever. All local animal husbandry and veterinary departments, transportation departments, and public security departments must attach great importance to it, fully understand the importance and urgency of doing a good job in the supervision and management of live pigs, further strengthen the joint supervision work, and take effective measures to prevent the spread of the epidemic through cross-regional transmission of live pigs.

(SNIP)

The animal husbandry and veterinary department should increase the investigation and punishment of illegal and illegal activities such as the transfer of live pigs without animal quarantine certificates, strengthen the effective connection between administrative law enforcement and criminal justice, promptly transfer the suspected crimes to the public security departments and other departments, and resolutely block illegal trafficking.

As we've discussed previously, food insecurity - whether brought on by flood, drought, or disease - is a constant worry in China, and after more than a decade dealing with major losses in the poultry sector, the last thing China needs is a crisis in pig production.

Meanwhile, today the MOA announced another outbreak in Hubei Province.

African swine fever epidemic in Lishui County, Hubei Province

Date: 2018-11-15 14:58 Author: Source: Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Press Office

The Information Office of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs was released on November 15th, and an African swine fever epidemic occurred in Lishui County, Huanggang City, Hubei Province.

At 10:00 on November 15, 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 Lishui County, Huanggang City, Hubei Province occurred. African swine fever. The farm has 636 pigs, 24 diseases and 13 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 and the epidemic has been effectively disposed of.

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.

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).