April 17, 2008

Blue ear pig disease spreads to sixth province in Vietnam

Vietnam authorities have recently counted six provinces hit by the blue ear pig disease in the country, with Thua Thien Hue province as the latest in the list.

As of April 15, blue ear has hit 434 communes and wards of 31 districts and towns of the six provinces of Thanh Hoa, Ha Tinh, Nghe An, Quang Nam, Lam Dong and Thua Thien Hue in the central and central highlands region, the local newspaper Labor reported on Wednesday.

The outbreak in Vietnam has lead to the death and the forced culling of over 149,000 pigs, the Department of Animal Health informed.

Thanh Hoa alone has 337 communes and wards hit by the disease with a total of over 134,000 pigs affected.

Blue ear disease symptoms include reproductive failure, pneumonia and increased susceptibility to secondary bacterial infection.