Highly contagious African swine fever ravages six farms in valley

KATHMANDU, MAY 20

The government has urged pig farms across the country to be on high alert as the African swine fever has been detected for the first time in the country.

"The highly contagious disease, which does not affect humans but is fatal for domestic pigs and wild boars, has killed at least 1,019 pigs in six farms within Kathmandu valley," informed Deputy General of the Department of Livestock Services, Lek Raj Dahal, at a press meet today.

The six affected farms are located at Kageshwori Manohara, Kirtipur, Chandragiri, Tokha, and Dakshinkali in Kathmandu district, Godawari in Lalitpur district, and Changunarayan in Bhaktapur district.

According to Dahal, after preliminary results of the disease were obtained from the Kageshwori Manohara area where high mortality rate of pigs was detected in the last week of April, samples were collected through molecular and serological methods.

"As per the recommendation of World Organisation for Animal Health based in Nepal, the samples were then sent to a reference laboratory in Australia for further testing as the ASF had not been detected in the country,"

Dahal said, adding results confirming the ASF were received on May 16.

According to the World Health Organisation, ASF is a contagious viral pig disease and can be transmitted through direct contact with infected animals, causing high mortality in both domestic pigs and wild boars of all ages. The virus can survive several months in processed meat and several years in frozen carcasses, so meat products are a particular concern for cross-border transmission.

It is believed that the disease was initially brought from east Africa to Georgia by contaminated pig products. The disease has generally been present in countries of Sub-Saharan Africa and has more recently been reported in Eastern Europe (including Ukraine and Russia). In August 2018, it was reported for the first time in China and in September 2018 it was detected in wild boars in Belgium. It later spread to India and Bhutan.

While the disease does not pose any risk to human health, Chandra Dhakal, senior officer at DoLS, said, "Livestock farmers need to be on high alert because of the extremely high mortality rate and lack of vaccine or treatment for ASF."

The outbreaks can have serious economic implications, particularly on farmers whose livelihood depends on the swine industry and for consumers who are faced with the brunt of increasing pork prices.

A decision to impose a ban on the import of meat products that may spread African swine fever was made by a meeting of the Council of Ministers on 17 January 2019.

"This means the country does not have any provision for compensating farmers incurring losses due to ASF," explained Dhakal.

According to the department, there are around 116,000 domestic pigs across the country, with production of pork at around eight per cent of total meat production.

ASF can be transmitted through direct contact with infected animals, causing high mortality in pigs and wild boars

A version of this article appears in the print on May 21, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.