May 10, 2012

Vietnamese provinces report new blue-ear outbreaks

Raising the total number of infected provinces to six, new outbreaks of blue-ear pig disease have occurred in the northern provinces of Bac Ninh and Lao Cai, said Hoang Van Nam, Head of Animal Health Department under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development on May 8.

He said there is a high risk that the disease will continue spreading among northern provinces.

So far, nearly half of the 20,000 pigs with blue-ear disease in these six provinces of Dien Bien, Yen Bai, Nam Dinh, Phu Tho, Lao Cai and Bac Ninh have been culled. Among these provinces, Yen Bai is ravaged most seriously with its six districts affected by the disease.

He said the failure of the provinces to promptly detect the disease and control the transport and slaughtering of the infected pigs has led to the spreading of the outbreak.

Relevant authorities in some localities only got reports of the disease after it had appeared in their pigs for several weeks. It was thus quite late to take preventive measures to stop the spread, said he.

Not to mention, only 100,000 doses of the vaccine remain and if the disease continues to spread, the vaccine will be depleted. In coping with this situation, the ministry has proposed that the Prime Minister allow the import of more vaccines.

Deputy minister Diep Kinh Tan asked the Animal Health Department and localities to closely manage the transport and slaughtering of pigs to stop the transmission of the disease as well as take effective measures to promptly detect the disease as soon as possible.

He said that it is necessary to raise public awareness, especially farmers, about the blue-ear pig disease so that they can actively participate in detecting and reporting the disease and taking preventive measures.