African Swine Fever Forces S. Korea To Slaughter 5, 000 Pigs

African Swine fever may be causing a whole lot of concern in South Korea, forcing the authorities to reportedly slaughter about 5,500 pigs in the space of two months.

The slaughtering spree is to prevent further spread of the disease, agency reports have said.

Seoul took the action, announcing the wake of African swine fever (ASF) through its agriculture ministry.

Pig farms and other related facilities in the country’s northern regions where the outbreak is reported have now been issued a standstill order.

It was yesterday that the animal disease was discovered in a pig farm in Cheorwon, about 71 kilometers northeast of Seoul.

Reports referencing the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs of South Korea,  say it is the first time since last September that another outbreak would be noticed.

The first one was at a farm in Gangwon’s Chuncheon city.

Areas where a 24-hour standstill order have been initialed are the northern part of Gangwon and the adjacent Gyeonggi Provinces.

IT is expected that the relevant authorities would carry out an indept inspection of about 59 nearly farms the report indicated.

The Eagle recalls that last May, South Korea boosted its quarantine systems at major entry points to the country, in a bid to forestall further threat of animal disease.

Particularly address in the preventive measure were airports with the Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Ministry specifying eight major airports and sea harbours.

As at then, there had been 300 reported cases of the African Swine Fever

China, Vietnam, the Philippines, India, and Indonesia were among 63 other countries where outbreaks of the virus were reported.

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Though the African swine fever does not affect humans but essentially deadly to pigs, concerns centre on the non-availability of vaccine for the disease currently.

It implies it could wipe off entire population of animals creating food and nutrition supply hiccups.