July 19, 2007

Vietnam battles blue ear disease

Vietnam has set up 18 task forces to control Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome (PRRS), or blue ear disease in Quang Nam province, Vietnam after the disease killed more than 20,000 pigs in the past two weeks in the area.

The task forces have been detailed to monitor the slaughter and pig movements in the province.

Mass culling of infected pigs in the area had been ordered. The government is also offering breeders who lost their pigs to the epidemic VND10,000 (US$0.62) per kilogramme.

Nguyen Thanh Quang, head of the provincial agriculture department, said the province needed around VND10 billion (US$62,500) to support affected breeders.

The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Cao Duc Phat called for the mobilization of all available resources to stop the outbreak.

Blue ear disease has killed more than 40,000 pigs in neighbouring China, according to official figures. The actual number, according to various media, is much higher. The disease, along with other factors is said to have a caused a nationwide pork shortage in the country.