In one month, China has confirmed nine cases of African swine fever across the country.
On September 6, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) called a three-day emergency meeting in Thailand to examine the outbreak of African swine fever (ASF) in China, aiming to curb the spread of ASF to China’s neighboring countries in Asia.
Just one day earlier, China’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs (MoARA) announced that ASF has broken out in Jiamusi, a prefecture-level city in Heilongjiang province that borders Russia. The epidemic has killed a total of 12 pigs and sickened 39 in one local farm, MoARA said.
This marks the ninth case of ASF that has been reported in China since August 1, when the virus was first detected in the country. So far, China has confirmed nine ASF cases all over the country in six provinces, including Heilongjiang, Anhui, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Henan, and Liaoning.
According to the FAO, ASF is one of the most devastating diseases affecting pigs, though it poses no direct threat to human health. Highly contagious, the disease can spread through direct or indirect contact and causes high mortality, while the virus can persist for a long time in the environment and in a variety of swine products. Currently, there are no vaccines available.
