Tuesday, February 19, 2019

China MOA: ASF Reaches Guangxi Province














#13,875


For the past month we've heard very little about African Swine Fever outbreaks in China, except for one reported in Yongzhou City earlier this month. Instead, what we have seen is:

Today China's MOA breaks the pattern with the first report of ASF in Guangxi Province - the last holdout in Southern China - on two farms with more than 23,000 pigs.  Guangxi becomes the 26th Chinese Province and/or territory to report the ASF virus since it first emerged in early August 2018.

African swine fever epidemic in Yinhai District, Beihai City, Guangxi
 
Date: 2019-02-19 15:37 Author: Source: Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Press Office 

The Information Office of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs was released on February 18, and an African swine fever epidemic occurred in Yinhai District, Beihai City, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

On February 18, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs received a report from the China Animal Disease Prevention and Control Center, which was diagnosed by the China Center for Animal Health and Epidemiology, and the African swine fever epidemic occurred in two breeding communities in Yinhai District of Beihai City. 


Up to now, the above two breeding communities have coexisted 23,555 live pigs, with 1,629 cases and 924 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 according to the requirements, 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.
 
While it may not be connected to ASF,  two hundred miles north of Beihai City - still in Guangxi Province - we get yet another report of dead pigs dumped into a river; this time in Liuzhou City.

Guangxi Liuzhou river stench of dead pigs floating nearly 50 source is not yet known

Southland this newspaper reported February 18, February 18, Liuzhou City in Guangxi Province, near the entrance to the park Dole Dole River, the river, the sudden large and small, dozens of dead pigs. After receiving the report, Yufeng District Animal Health Authority immediately organized the staff to the scene, and to initiate cleanup. Reporters learned that, because the number of dead pigs, cleanup is expected to take two days.
In the afternoon, this reporter went to the park Dole, Dole on the river about 200 meters away from the entrance to the park and saw a large number of dead pigs are bamboo rope together. Due to prolonged water immersion, these dead pig whole body swollen, and have begun to rot. It exudes a strong air of rancid flavor, disgusting.

A staff member told reporters that the management at the park, park officials in carrying out inspections on February 17, and did not find them dead pigs. They speculate that a heavy rain the night before, these dead pigs rushed to the area from the upper reaches of the park.
While official reports of ASF outbreaks have declined greatly from China since the first of the year, Chinese news stories about dead pigs `死猪' found dumped in rivers appear to be on the increase. 
There are, admittedly, a lot of pig diseases in China, including FMD, PED & PRRS - and other factors - such as cold snaps or contaminated feed - can cause high pig mortality. 
Related to ASF or not, we've seen China's farmers resort to `midnight dumping' of sick or dead livestock in the past to avoid reporting disease outbreaks, so we'll continue to monitor these reports.