April 4, 2008

Vietnam reports two more provinces hit with blue ear disease

Vietnam's northern Thanh Hoa province and central Quang Nam province have recently reported of Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome (PRRS) or blue ear disease, raising the total affected localities to three.

The pig disease has broken out in a district of Quang Nam, and hit 3,000 pigs in four districts of Thanh Hoa, newspaper Young People reported Friday.

However, the outbreak in Thanh Hoa has not been confirmed yet by the Department of Animal Health under the Vietnamese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

PRRS has hit pigs in Vietnam's two central provinces of Ha Tinh and Quang Nam.

The disease was first recognized in the US mid-1980s and is now present in most pig producing countries.

The symptoms include reproductive failure, pneumonia and increased susceptibility to secondary bacterial infection.