African swine fever reported in two more China outbreaks

Chinese agricultural officials reported (computer translated) on a African swine fever (ASF) outbreak on a farm in the Xushui district of Baoding city in Hebei province in northern China.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, the farm had 5,600 pigs, of which, an unspecified number died.

The pigs were culled and the farm has been quarantined.

In addition, officials also reported (computer translated) on an outbreak of ASF in the Sandor Forest Farm of the State-owned Forest Management Bureau of Daxing’anling, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

In this outbreak, 210 of the 222 wild boar raised on the farm died. The remaining boar were culled.

The farm is located in the hinterland of Daxing’anling, and there is no pig breeding in the radius of 60 km.

ASF poses no direct health threat to humans; however, in its most virulent strain, it is 100 percent fatal to infected pigs.

African Swine Fever in Asia: ‘Just the tip of the iceberg’

It is a major threat to the swine industry and to the livelihoods of small scale farmers and others along the value chain. China produces half of the world’s pigs – with a current population of some 500-million swine.