November 9, 2011

Russia's swine fever outbreak poses no threat to Azerbaijan

Russia's swine fever outbreak in Rostov region brings no threat to Azerbaijan, Yolchu Hanveli, Agriculture Ministry's State Veterinary Service press secretary, said Tuesday (Nov 8).

Hanveli said they have not been importing pigs and pork from Russia for three years now after cases of African swine fever were registered in Russia's Rostov region and other regions. Wild pig infection is a potential threat of swine fever's penetrating Azerbaijan, he noted. He added that swine fever is not a threat to Azerbaijan which imports pork from European countries. Russian news agency RIA Novosti reported that a state of emergency has been declared in Rostov region's Azov district due to an outbreak of swine fever, the press service of the region's emergency situations prevention and elimination department, reported on Tuesday.

Loss of pigs at the farm Batayskoye began on November 4. More than 100 were lost in two days. Specialists took pathology samples and analysis revealed the virus of African swine fever. A total of more than 25,000 pigs were kept at the farm. An outbreak of swine fever was earlier registered in the Rostov region at the beginning of August at the Rodionovo-Nesvetaysk region's farm Rostov-Mir where more than 5,000 animals were later killed.

Before that the virus had not emerged in the region for around six months. The African swine fever (Montgomery disease), was initially registered in South Africa in 1903. Pigs and wild pigs are susceptible to the disease that occurs in their natural habitat. They get infected when a healthy animal contacts an infected one. The disease is no threat to human health, but is extraordinarily dangerous for cattle breeding as it cannot be cured or vaccinated against.