December 4, 2007

Taiwan raises African swine fever alert

Changhua county in central Taiwan raised an alert last week against a possible outbreak of African swine fever that wreaked havoc in northern China's hog farms.

Officials at the Animal Disease Control Center of Changhua County said they got reports of an outbreak of a disease similar to African swine fever at hog farms in northern China's Heilongjiang Province, bordering Russia.

Russia reinforced its controls along the border with China to keep the hog disease at bay.

Changhua officials urged hog farm operators to strengthen disease prevention measures and to avoid inviting Chinese counterparts to visit local farms or livestock markets.

Taiwan's government called on the public to avoid purchasing pork and pork products from unknown sources.