Guwahati: Assam has reported African swine fever, which causes fever, nausea and diarrhoea in pigs, officials said.
African swine fever is highly communicable and has no vaccine and in most cases no cure.
On Sunday, a pig at Bhogali Pathar village in eastern Assam’s Dibrugarh district tested positive for the virus.
According to the reports, the culling of pigs has begun in the area where the first case of African swine fever has been registered.
Dr. Himandu Bikash Barua, Dist Animal Husbandry & Veterinary Officer in Dibrugarh, said a sample of the pig confirmed that it had an African swine fever.
“In Dibrugarh’s Bhogali Pathar village, a farmer’s pig had a disease. The pig was examined and the sample was sent for testing. The sample confirmed that the pig had African swine fever,” he said.
Barua also said that all pigs within a 1 km radius of the epicentre, where the African swine fever was detected in a pig, had been culled. The entire area has also been sanitized.
“We first declared the area up to 1 km as infected. According to the rules, we’ve killed and buried all the pigs in the infected area. Simultaneously, we have also sanitized the entire area,” he said.
Highly contagious and deadly for pigs, the African swine fever virus doesn’t spread to humans.
Speaking about the African swine fever being detected in Assam, Minister Atul Bora said, “African Swine Fever (ASF), which is a challenge for pig farmers and rural economy, has recently affected pig farmers in Assam.”
“At the NE India Regional Workshop on ASF Management Planning, I urged the experts & officials to work towards raising awareness among farmers,” he tweeted.