Spraying chemicals to sterilise breeding facilities (Photo: VNA)
Hanoi (VNA) – The UNFood and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the World Organisation for AnimalHealth (OIE) have sent a delegation of experts to Vietnam to assess thesituation of African swine fever (ASF) in the country.
The delegation is tasked withadvising the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development on the best methodsto dispose affected pigs and how to optimize available resources to stop thespread of the ASF virus.
The experts will proposeimmediate, short-term and mid-term measures to address ASF outbreaks and workto combine those measures with Vietnam’s emergency response to ASF and theregion’s contingency plans for ASF, creating the foundation for Vietnam to buildits own contingency plan for the disease.
The delegation has visited localities wherethere are ASF outbreaks and held meetings with officials of relevant agencies andlocal authorities to evaluate measures already undertaken and the use ofresources to cope with outbreaks, along with investigating the pace of ASFspread.
The experts said localauthorities had been making great efforts to strictly control the transport andtrading of pigs and pig products in areas with ASF outbreaks. They noted that lowbiosecurity and the habit of using kitchen leftover as pig feed of smallpig-raising households are factors behind the spread of the disease.
The delegation recommended thatVietnam declare AFS a national emergency, create zoned areas to prevent thevirus from spreading, and develop standardized procedures on pig culling andcarcass disposal.
Vietnam has an estimated 2.5 million householdsengaging in pig raising. "The loss of pigs due to ASF infection andcontrol measures leads to a heavy economic burden to many rural families,"Albert T. Lieberg, the FAO representative in Vietnam, said following meetingslast week with Vietnamese authorities. He affirmed that along with otherinternational partners, FAO will assist the Vietnamese government in copingwith the disease in order to minimise losses.
African swine fever does not affect humans but causeshaemorrhagic fever in pigs and wild boars that is almost always fatal. There iscurrently no antidote or vaccine, with the only known preventative measurebeing a mass cull of infected livestock. The disease spreads by contact betweeninfected pigs or other wild animals and can inflict massive economic damage onfarms. -VNA
