In a place where pigs die every day from African swine fever

Every day someone reports sick pigs.

Hamlet 3 is the area with the highest number of households with African swine fever in Quynh Thanh commune (Quynh Luu). Therefore, when talking about African swine fever, Mr. Nguyen Ba Ha - Hamlet Chief is worried: For the past month, almost every day the hamlet has had to destroy infected pigs, now every time people report that a pig is sick, it makes me scared.

Mr. Cu Hien's family in Hamlet 3, Quynh Thanh Commune had to destroy 7 pigs due to African swine fever. Photo: Xuan Hoang

The hamlet has 240 households, of which 100 raise pigs, mainly sows. Their lives depend on income from pig farming, but this outbreak of African swine fever has forced 20 households to destroy their pigs, with a total of 40 pigs.

The worrying thing is that there are still some sick pigs, suspected of having African swine fever. If this continues, the village's pig herd will soon be wiped out.

Mr. Nguyen Ba Ha - Head of Hamlet 3, Quynh Thanh Commune

Mr. Tran Van Long's family in Hamlet 3, Quynh Thanh Commune currently has 4 sick pigs, one of which died on the morning of July 8, but the district veterinary staff has not yet taken samples for testing or destroyed them. Photo: Xuan Hoang

Mr. Cu Hien's family had 7 pigs (2 sows, 5 pigs for meat) that were destroyed on July 5. Mr. Hien said: The family has raised sows for many years, each year earning around 10 million VND from selling breeding pigs. Therefore, when the family's pigs were infected with the disease and had to be destroyed, it meant the family lost their main source of income, so now they have to "hang up" the pigsty.

Causes of the outbreak

Mr. Ho Xuan Xuyen - Chairman of Quynh Thanh Commune People's Committee said: African swine fever occurred in the commune since June 4, but by July 5, the epidemic had spread to 72 households, with 155 pigs destroyed (82 sows, 49 piglets, the rest were pigs for meat).

The force on duty at the epidemic prevention checkpoint in Quynh Thanh commune is having a hard time preventing the epidemic during the hot days. Photo: Xuan Hoang

Quynh Thanh is a purely agricultural locality, with livestock accounting for 50% of the agricultural sector, so before June 4, the locality had 1,800 households raising pigs, with a total herd of 2,300 pigs. When the first outbreak occurred in the commune, the local government implemented epidemic prevention measures according to regulations of the veterinary agency.

By July 5, the district had provided the commune with 153 liters of chemicals and 2.6 tons of lime powder. In addition, the commune also purchased 50 liters of chemicals and 7 tons of lime powder, set up 6 temporary quarantine checkpoints, mobilized all youth union, police, and military forces to work at the checkpoints... but the epidemic still spread widely, with some days the locality received 3-4 samples positive for African swine fever.

Mr. Ho Xuan Xuyen - Chairman of Quynh Thanh Commune People's Committee said

According to Mr. Xuyen, the main reasons for the outbreak in the commune are: First, people in the commune mainly raise pigs on a small scale, while people's awareness is still negligent and subjective about the epidemic. Second, there are many river and canal ends in the commune, making it easy for pathogens to arise. Third, the commune has a market that is open all day, attracting people from neighboring communes to do business and trade, making it very difficult to control the epidemic...

Mr. Xuyen also admitted that the local government's direction and supervision of epidemic prevention and control is sometimes not close.

A temporary quarantine checkpoint in Quynh Thanh commune. Photo: Xuan Hoang

Mr. Ngo Duc Quynh - Deputy of the Department of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine affirmed: Quynh Thanh (Quynh Luu) is currently the locality with the most outbreaks of African swine fever in the province. The solution to prevent and control the epidemic for the locality is to strengthen propaganda work so that people understand and have better disease prevention measures, at the same time regularly spray disinfectants at pig farms, do a good job of controlling pig transportation, and controlling pathogens.