Nghe An basically controls African swine fever

Anh Son District used to be one of the localities with the most complicated developments of African swine fever in Nghe An. By the end of 2023, the epidemic had occurred in 15 communes, 59 villages, and 526 households in the area with a total of 3,892 infected pigs, with a total weight of over 223 tons of pigs destroyed.

Faced with this situation, Anh Son district has drastically applied many measures to prevent the spread of the disease and minimize the occurrence of new outbreaks. In communes where the disease has appeared, many checkpoints have been set up, functional forces are on duty 24/7, infected pigs are destroyed according to procedures. Livestock farmers have also promoted the spirit of disease prevention by increasing lime powder, chemicals, and thoroughly treating pathogens in the environment.

Mr. Nguyen Van Thu - Chairman of the People's Committee of Linh Son Commune (a locality with many outbreaks in Anh Son District) said: In the past week, there have been no more cases of sick pigs dying in the area. Some hamlets have gone 21 days without new outbreaks. In these "green zones", the locality has allowed the force to remove quarantine checkpoints to facilitate people's business and trade during the pre-Tet period. Although the epidemic has been complicated, the locality still ensures a total herd of over 2,500 pigs to serve the market (before the epidemic, there were nearly 3,000 pigs).

According to data from the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Anh Son district, by the end of January 2024, 13/15 communes in the district had announced the end of the epidemic, including: Dinh Son, Anh Son town, Tho Son, Tam Son, Binh Son, Hoi Son, Lang Son, Tao Son, Long Son, Phuc Son, Thach Son, Linh Son, Duc Son. Currently, the epidemic only appears in 2 communes Cao Son, Khai Son and the number of newly infected pigs is not large.

In Thanh Chuong district, the epidemic is also gradually under control. Currently, the whole district still has 13 communes with the epidemic, however, in these outbreaks, the number of newly infected pigs is very small. Mr. Tran Phi Hung - Head of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Thanh Chuong district said: In the past 4 days, only 1 pig died from African swine fever. The remaining outbreaks have not had any infected or dead pigs in the past days. Many communes are waiting for the 21 days as prescribed to declare the end of the epidemic before Tet.

Mr. Nguyen Viet Luong - Head of the Disease Management Department, Nghe An Department of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine said: Since the beginning of 2024, there have not been many epidemics in the province, the outbreaks from 2023 have not met the conditions to declare the end of the epidemic. The number of culled pigs is very small, mainly 1-2 pigs/outbreak. Only Thanh Chuong district currently has more than 10 outbreaks that have not passed 21 days, other districts have only had 1 or 2 outbreaks. According to the general assessment, up to now, African swine fever in Nghe An has been basically controlled.

However, the Lunar New Year is coming, the volume of transportation, trading and slaughtering of pigs will increase. Therefore, local authorities must still focus on monitoring the epidemic well, detecting outbreaks early and handling them promptly in a small area. Strengthen control of the transportation of pigs and pig products.

In particular, focus on directing commune-level authorities to strengthen the management of slaughterhouses, pork origin management and diseases at markets, stores, supermarkets, clean food stores, pork processing facilities (ham, sausage, sausages, etc.) and establishments selling pork products. Strengthen the direction of taking samples to monitor pathogens at establishments to ensure the supply of pork at the end of the year, creating conditions for consumers to use clean, disease-free pork products, ensuring food safety and limiting the spread of diseases...