Taiwan detects first cases of swine fever
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A vendor cuts meat at a pork stall at a local traditional market in Keelung, Taiwan, on Oct 23.
PHOTO: AFP
Taipei – Taiwan has culled dozens of pigs after detecting its first cases of African swine fever, with the agriculture ministry saying on Oct 23 no other infections have been detected elsewhere on the island.
The illness – 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 in October, and 195 pigs have been culled, the ministry said on Oct 22.
Taichung authorities were tracing the whereabouts of 28 pigs from the farm that were sold in markets, Mr Lin Nien-nung, from the ministry’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency, said on Oct 23.
The ministry said a 3km “control zone” has been set up to prevent the infection from spreading, and 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 (S$2.9 billion) a year, official data shows.
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,” he said in a Facebook post. AFP
