Illustrative image. (Source: AFP/VNA) Hanoi (VNA) – The rapid onset of the African swine fever (ASF) inChina may spread to neighbouring countries in Southeast Asia and the Koreanpeninsula, the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) warned on August28.
Last month, the deadly pig virus was detected in four different localities ofChina. The FAO said that the distances between each outbreak, which is up to1,000km, highlighted the danger of the virus spreading to other Asian countries.
Although the disease poses no direct threat to human health, outbreaks arelikely to leave devastating impacts on China’s husbandry sector. China is amajor pig producing country and accounts for approximately half of the globalpig population.
There are no effective vaccines to protect pigs from the disease. Chineseauthorities have culled over 24,000 pigs in the four provinces to limit furtherspreading, according to FAO.
China reported its first case of the disease in northeastern province of Liaoningearlier this month.
The movement of pig products, rather than live pigs, has caused the spread ofthe virus to other parts of China, according to FAO. –VNA
VNA
