Timor Leste reports African swine fever outbreaks

Hanoi (VNA) – Timor Leste reported outbreaks of African swine fever last week with the first case near its border with Indonesia, the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) said on September 30.

The disease killed a total of 405 backyard pigs from smallholders' farms in the Dili municipal region in the country's northern region, Timor Leste's agriculture ministry said in a report posted on the website of the Paris-based OIE.

Pigs in smallholder farms in the affected area are estimated to number 44,000 in total.

The source of the outbreak, or origin of infection, was unknown.

African swine fever cannot be passed from animals to humans, but people can spread the disease. The animal epidemic affects pigs and wild boars and has an almost 100 percent death rate. It requires high temperatures to kill the virus, which can survive up to three years in frozen meat and up to one year in dried meat.

In Asia, the virus surfaced for the first time in China, before spreading to some Southeast Asian nations. /.