May 28, 2008

Blue ear disease hits 1 percent of Vietnam's pig population

The blue ear pig disease has affected 270,000 pigs in Vietnam or one percent of the country's total pig population since late March, Vietnam Economic Times reported Tuesday.

Vietnam's northern Thanh Hoa province has suffered the biggest loss with nearly 200,000 pigs affected, accounting for nearly 15 percent of the province's pig population, Nguyen Thanh Son, vice director of Department of Animal Health, said.

Currently, blue ear disease is hitting 10 Vietnamese provinces, the department reported.

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