August 21, 2007

One-fifth of China's pigs vaccinated from blue ear disease

A total of about 500 million pigs are grown in China and the government has vaccinated 100 million against the virus, according to Jia Youling, chief veterinary officer of the Agriculture Ministry Monday (Aug 20).

The disease has been confirmed in 26 of 31 provinces and the autonomous regions in China, according to Jia.

Jia also said that 257,000 pigs have been affected by blue ear disease and 175,000 have been slaughtered to prevent the spread of a highly infectious virus.

As of Sunday, 68,000 of the total have died from the disease, also known as Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome.

There have been no cases of the disease striking vaccinated pigs.

Acting togther with high grain prices, the pig disease has affected farmers' confidence in pig rearing, causing shorter supplies of pork which in turn caused a sharp rise in pork prices.

Countering claims that China was not sharing disease samples with international authorities Jia insisted that China has been cooperative in doing so, especially with that of the Food and Agricultural Organtization (FAO) and Organization for Animal Health (OIE).