Taipei (AFP) – Taiwan has culled dozens of pigs after detecting its first cases of African swine fever, with the agriculture ministry saying Thursday no other infections have been detected elsewhere on the island. The virus — which does not affect humans — is highly contagious and fatal for pigs, and an outbreak is potentially devastating for the pork industry, experts say.
“No abnormalities have been observed (elsewhere) so far,” Deputy Agriculture Minister Tu Wen-jane told a news conference in the central city of Taichung where the infections were detected. Samples of dead pigs at a farm in Wuqi district tested positive for swine fever this month and 195 pigs were culled, the ministry said Wednesday.
Taichung authorities were tracing the whereabouts of 28 pigs from the farm that were sold in markets, Lin Nien-nung, from the ministry’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency, said Thursday. The ministry said a three-kilometre (nearly two-mile) “control zone” was set up to prevent the infection from spreading, while the transport and slaughter of pigs across the island is banned for five days.
Taiwan has around five million pigs and the pork industry generates about NT$70 billion (US$2.3 billion) a year, official data show. President Lai Ching-te has urged the public to “not panic” and called on local governments, livestock associations, and pig farmers to be “highly vigilant.”
“If any abnormal deaths or suspected animal infections are found among pigs, please immediately report them to the local animal quarantine authorities,” Lai said in a Facebook post.
© 2024 AFP
