May 5, 2008

Blue Ear Disease affects 255,000 pigs in Vietnam

"Blue ear" disease or Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome, has hit 255,000 pigs in 10 Vietnamese cities and provinces since late March, according to  China's state-run Xinhua News Agency, citing a report Monday in Vietnam's Youth newspaper.

Northern Thanh Hoa province has been the hardest hit, with losses of some VND400 billion (US$25 million), the paper quoted the Vietnamese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development as reporting.

The Ministry of Finance is expected to propose that the government should cover 60 percent -80 percent of disease prevention expenditures in affected localities. The ministry would also facilitate local farmers in accessing loans and raising pigs, Xinhua cited the report as saying.

The disease was first recognized in the US in the mid- 1980s and is now present in most pig producing countries. The disease caused extensive losses in China last year, sending pig prices soaring. Symptoms include reproductive failure, pneumonia and increased susceptibility to secondary bacterial infection, said Xinhua.