August 1, 2007

 

Blue ear disease plunges pork sales in Ho Chin Minh City

 

 

Pork sales in Ho Chi Minh City's (HCMC) wet markets have dipped on the wake of the blue ear disease that is ravaging swine farms in five provinces.

 

Wholesalers reported sales plunge of 10 to 20 percent and retailers of up to 50 percent.

 

A market official said many market vendors have stopped selling pork due to low demand.

 

Supermarkets however are experiencing the opposite. Bui Duy Duc, director of Vissan foods -- one of the country's largest meat companies -- said his company's outlets in HCMC had seen a jump of 20 percent in demand to 15 tonnes daily.

 

He said Vissan could meet the demand for safe pork with its stringent quality control systems from breeding to culling.

 

Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Cao Duc Phat has alerted the whole nation to take measures against the disease like checking transport of sick pigs, inoculation, quarantine of infected sites, and slaughter of sick animals.

 

The disease, known scientifically as Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome (PRRS), has been detected in Danang city and Quang Nam, Quang Ngai, and Thua Thien-Hue provinces in the central region and Long An province in the Mekong Delta, with around 35,000 pigs infected.

 

The Animal Health Department on July 30 confirmed that the death of 30 pigs in affected provinces was caused by PRRS.

 

Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Sinh Hung instructed agencies to stock vaccines and proposed a support policy for affected farmers.

 

Doan Hong Phong, deputy head of Hanoi's Animal Health Department, said city agencies were checking movement of sick pigs from infected areas.

 

Tran Tinh Hien of the HCMC-based Hospital of Tropical Diseases warned blue ear enhanced clinical manifestation of latent strep. suis infection in pigs could be transferred to humans. Its symptoms included fever, headache, dizziness, and even meningitis and arthritis. Research is ongoing to discover if strep. suis can spread among humans.

 

PRRS in pigs is caused by the Lelstad virus which causes ears to turn blue, appetite loss, high fever, miscarriage, premature delivery, coughing, respiratory problems, and even death in extreme cases.