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Today Guangdong Province becomes the 23rd Chinese Province and/or territory to report African Swine Fever, leaving only Guangxi Province untouched in the south.
Given the rapid spread of the virus, this was hardly an unexpected development, but is nonetheless a blow to China's containment efforts.The outbreak is reported at a slaughterhouse in Zhuhai City, which is adjacent to Macao, and only a short distance from Hong Kong. The source of the infected pigs is not provided.
African swine fever epidemic in Xiangzhou District, Zhuhai City, Guangdong Province
Date: 2018-12-19 16:15 Author: Source: Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Press Office
The Information Office of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs released on December 19th that an African swine fever epidemic occurred in Xiangzhou District, Zhuhai City, Guangdong Province.
At 15:00 on December 19, 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 slaughterhouse in Xiangzhou District, Zhuhai City, Guangdong Province occurred in Africa. Pig plague. Up to now, the slaughterhouse has ordered 50 pigs to be slaughtered, with 11 diseases and 11 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.
Despite its rapid spread, there are several conspicuous regions where - despite being surrounded by provinces with outbreaks - ASF has yet to be reported; Shandong & Hebei Provinces in the North, and Guangxi in the South.
Whether this is due to a genuine lack of activity, or less than robust surveillance and reporting, remains unclear.You may recall a couple of months ago, we looked at an item appearing in the Daily China Discipline Inspection and Supervision News, regarding local officials in Guangxi Province caught falsifying H7N9 test results on local poultry.
As African Swine Fever continues to gain new territory in China, the warnings from the FAO - see African swine fever (ASF) threatens to spread from China to other Asian countries) - echo loudly in neighboring countries (see Taiwan Opens ASF Center, Raises Fines To Prevent Entry Of Disease).And given the dismal progress in containing the ASF virus in Eastern Europe and Russia over the past 10 years (see DEFRA map below), the prospects for successfully halting this virus remain slim.
