After flooding, swine fever spread rapidly in Vinh city

On the afternoon of October 18, Vinh City and Hung Loc Commune authorities destroyed 7 pigs belonging to the households of Nguyen Thanh Muoi, Mau Don Hamlet (3 pigs) and Phan Sy Kim, Mau Lam Hamlet (4 pigs).

Vinh city veterinary staff take samples of pigs before they are destroyed. Photo: Thanh Phuc

Previously, on the afternoon of October 17, Hung Loc commune also destroyed 18 pigs of a military unit stationed in the area due to African swine fever infection.

After the rain, many places are flooded, making disease control more difficult. On days of heavy rain, veterinary staff coordinate with wards and communes to inspect and monitor burial pits to promptly handle incidents; survey burial sites far from residential areas, high, not flooded and spread tarpaulins in the pits before burying pigs.

At the same time, advise the City People's Committee to allocate funds to buy lime and chemicals to disinfect and sterilize roads in 25 wards and communes.

Households with pigs infected with African swine fever are supported with 25,000 VND/kg. Photo: Thanh Phuc

Up to this point, Vinh city has had 16/25 wards and communes infected with African swine fever, with 93 hamlets and 477 households having pigs die from African swine fever; 3,616 pigs weighing nearly 230 tons have been destroyed.

The total pig herd in Vinh is not large, most of them are raised on a small scale in residential areas, so it is difficult to control. In particular, 95% of households raise pigs using garbage water, feeding them directly without heat treatment to kill viruses and bacteria, so pathogens spread and spread quickly. In addition, the reported data on the total herd in wards and communes is not true to reality, making it difficult to control the epidemic. Specifically, according to the report, in the city, there are 8 wards and communes without pig farmers, but in reality, there are small-scale ones (for example, Hung Binh ward, according to the report, has no pig farmers, but recently there were still dead pigs that had to be destroyed); or the reported total herd is not true to reality, in the case of Nghi Kim commune, the number of pigs destroyed recently exceeded the reported number by 100.

Mr. Nguyen Tien Duc, Head of Vinh Veterinary Station

Sprinkle lime for disinfection before burial. Photo: Thanh Phuc

The epidemic situation is forecast to remain complicated. In addition, prolonged rains make it easy for pathogens to spread and spread widely. Farmers need to comply with the principles of disease prevention and control: feed pigs cooked food, boil water, control food sources for pigs; spray disinfectants, limit people entering and leaving barns, and when pigs show signs of illness, immediately notify local authorities and local veterinarians.