Since the beginning of August, there have been more than 40 outbreaks of African swine fever (ASF) across China and parts of Europe.
Although ASF does not affect humans, it is highly contagious and deadly among pigs, cannot be cured and has no vaccine. More than 200,000 hogs have been culled because of the disease this year.
The first outbreak was August 3 in China. There were four more outbreaks in China in August, along with one each in Romania and Bulgaria. In September, China saw many more outbreaks, and Belgium saw one. Again, in October, China had many outbreaks, and there were multiple outbreaks in Moldova and one in Poland.
China’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs has linked the country’s early cases of African swine fever to the feeding of kitchen waste. The ministry has now banned the practice, which it said caused 62 percent of the first 21 outbreaks. Because kitchen waste is cheaper than animal feed, many small farmers use it to feed their pigs. But the law says food waste must be heat-treated to kill bacteria or disease, but that step is often skipped.
To curb the spread of the disease, China has banned the feeding of food waste and the use of pig blood as a raw material in pig feed production. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs also will require pig feed producers to submit samples for testing, and any feed that tests positive for the virus will be recalled and destroyed. In addition, China also has banned transporting live hogs or pig products from areas bordering a province with an outbreak.
View our continuing coverage of the African swine fever outbreak.
