African swine fever appears, Ha Tinh actively prevents

After discovering an outbreak of African swine fever in Cam Xuyen district, the professional sector and local authorities of Ha Tinh are urgently implementing measures to contain the epidemic to ensure good livestock farming activities.

Professional staff take samples for testing at households with dead pigs.

Prevent the spread of the epidemic in Cam Xuyen

After many days of not eating, 19 out of 38 pigs owned by Mrs. Tran Thi Binh (Na Trung village, Cam Thach commune, Cam Xuyen) died of illness on August 6. Immediately after that, the authorities and local authorities took samples for testing and determined that the animals had African swine fever (ASF). The locality destroyed the animals and implemented disinfection measures using lime powder and chemicals.

As of the morning of August 15, Cam Thach commune had 6 households/4 villages (including the villages of Xuan Lau, Na Trung, My Thanh, Cam Dong) infected with ASF with 44 infected pigs. Cam Thach commune People's Committee used 1,000 kg of lime powder and 60 liters of disinfectant chemicals to disinfect households with recorded outbreaks. Control was also increased on buying, selling, and transporting pigs in the epidemic area.

African swine fever appears, Ha Tinh actively prevents

Mrs. Tran Thi Binh's pigs (Na Trung village, Cam Thach commune, Cam Xuyen) were infected with ASF.

Mr. Tran Van Son - Vice Chairman of Cam Thach Commune People's Committee said: "Through the survey, households with previous outbreaks had people buying piglets coming in and out asking questions and bargaining. This could be the reason for the spread of the disease, bringing the source of the disease from sick pigs to healthy pigs. In addition, due to the change in weather from prolonged hot weather to autumn, there are sudden showers, causing the resistance of livestock to decrease, making it easy to spread the disease."

In addition to the outbreak in Cam Thach commune, on August 10, Cam Duong commune also had ASF at Mrs. Nguyen Thi Lan's household in Trung Dong village with 1 infected sow. Thus, by the morning of August 15, Cam Xuyen district had 45 infected pigs.

Mr. Le Ngoc Ha - Vice Chairman of Cam Xuyen District People's Committee said: "The district has issued a document on focusing on implementing measures to prevent ASF in the area. At this time, the price of pork in the market is high, people can sell sick pigs, leading to the risk of spreading the disease and losing food safety if not strictly controlled. On the other hand, people are re-herding large herds, which can bring pathogens from other places to the area, so disease prevention and control work must be focused on. The district is strengthening inspection of transportation, slaughtering, trading... to strictly handle violations".

Strengthen epidemic prevention throughout the area

Currently, ASF is occurring in small-scale livestock farms, but in changing weather conditions, pathogens can develop rapidly; the ASF virus survives for a long time in the environment, in pork products, in livestock equipment, and means of transport; the transportation, trading, and slaughtering processes in the province are difficult to control...

Along with that, the total pig herd in Ha Tinh is currently quite large (400,000 heads), with high density of farming. The risk of disease outbreaks at household scale is very high because people have not implemented proper bio-safety farming measures.

African swine fever appears, Ha Tinh actively prevents

Cam Duong commune spread lime powder and placed signs to notify areas with ASF.

Mr. Nguyen Hoai Nam - Deputy Head of the Veterinary Management Department (Department of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine of the province) said: "Since the beginning of the year, the whole province has not had a large outbreak of ASF, so people are subjective. In some localities, animal husbandry and veterinary work has not been focused on due to a lack of specialized staff, so when an epidemic occurs, it is difficult to arrange a suitable prevention plan."

To control the epidemic, localities need to strengthen measures to inform and disseminate information about the situation and developments of the epidemic; raise awareness and responsibility of each household, livestock facility, trader, and slaughterer to proactively implement disease prevention and control solutions. At the same time, guide livestock farmers to apply biosecurity measures, not to increase or restore herds without ensuring safety conditions, promptly report when detecting sick pigs, pigs that die of unknown causes, and not to self-treat and sell sick pigs.

African swine fever appears, Ha Tinh actively prevents

Localities need to prepare well for the second vaccination of livestock and poultry in 2023.

Assign specialized staff to closely follow the grassroots to guide, direct, and closely monitor the livestock situation in the area; take samples for diagnosis, testing, and timely treatment of sick pigs according to regulations.

In particular, localities also need to ensure the progress and quality of the second vaccination phase of 2023 for livestock and poultry in September; review the list of farms and households in need to effectively carry out the experimental vaccination of ASF vaccine in Ha Tinh when there are instructions from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and direction from the Provincial People's Committee.

Phan Tram - Thai Oanh

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