May 11, 2007

 

China's agriculture ministry warns of more outbreaks of pig disease

 

 

China's agriculture ministry has issued a warning of more outbreaks to come given the high temperature and humidity in the current season.

 

The ministry on its website Thursday issued the warning and called on local governments to report all new cases of pig diseases.

 

The move follows an outbreak last month near Yunfu city in the southern Guangdong province that killed more than 300 pigs.

 

Authorities are scrambling to contain the disease as reports emerged that the disease, unidentified until recently, may have killed up to a million pigs in China.

 

It was difficult for authorities to determine how widespread the disease has become due to the dispersed nature of China's pig industry and the fact that some pig owners simply dumped diseased carcasses without first letting authorities identify the disease.

 

The disease was believed to be a variation of the Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome (PRRS) virus. It causes stillbirths in pigs, fever, loss of appetite, diarrhoea and redness of the skin. The ears of diseased pigs also turn blue, thus giving it the name "blue ear disease".

 

As it was not known what kind of disease it was, the disease was simply known in the feed industry as "unidentified high fever disease".

 

The first outbreak was reported a year ago in south Jiangxi province, but industry officials say the disease is now prevalent across the country.

 

The ministry said it has worked out a vaccine against the disease and would speed up production to vaccinate pigs in key areas, it said.

 

The disease's high mortality rates has affected production and the reduction of the pig population has affected production in the feed industry.