March 19, 2009

Blue ear pig disease has spread to new areas of the central Quang Nam province of Vietnam, said the Department of Animal Health (DAH) under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) on Wednesday (Mar 18).

DAH said the epidemic has struck pig herds in 31 communes of four districts of the province.

This is the third consecutive year that blue ear disease has broken out in Quang Nam province.

According to DAH, the ministry will send a working unit to the province next week to help local authorities fight against the disease.

Blue ear epidemic in pigs has been developing in three Vietnamese provinces, namely Mekong Delta's Bac Lieu, northern Bac Ninh and the hardest -hit central Quang Nam, leading more than thousand of pigs being infected with the blue ear virus.