The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has called for measures to prevent the African swine fever from spreading to Vietnam.

According to the World Organisation for Animal Health, the first African swine fever case was detected in China on August 1. By August 25, four outbreaks had occurred with 10,000 pigs were killed. 

Since late 2017, African swine fever has been detected in 12 countries including China, Russia, Poland, Hungary, Finland and South Africa.

This is a highly contagious disease and the fatality rate is 100%. 

The virus is resilient as a treated pig can still fall ill again. There is no definite cure and medicine for the fever yet.

In order to prevent African swine fever from spreading to Vietnam via smuggled pigs, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has sent official documents to the Ministry of Information and Communication, Ministry of Industry and Trade, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Public Security and Ministry of Defence and requested co-operation.

The ministry asked to tighten border monitoring and quickly deal with violators. 

The authorities must also monitor the local pig farms and take samples for tests immediately if they notice any strange symptoms. 

The Department of Animal Health was asked to work with international organisations such as Food and Agriculture Organisation and World Organisation for Animal Health.

Dtinews