Potential risk of African swine fever re-emergence

To prevent African swine fever, farmers in Hung Son commune (Kim Boi) regularly clean and disinfect their barns.

According to the report of the veterinary agency, from the beginning of 2025 to now, the whole country has 50 communes in 36 districts of 18 provinces recording ASF. In the province, 1 outbreak was recorded in Hang Tram town (Yen Thuy). Notably, this is the area where ASF was also recorded in pigs in 2024, so it is a warning sign that this disease may re-emerge, especially when the weather changes, the risk of disease infection is high.

In fact, the damage caused by ASF to the livestock industry in recent years is huge. In 2023, the whole province had 16 communes, wards and towns in the districts of Lac Son, Yen Thuy, Kim Boi, Da Bac and Hoa Binh city affected by the epidemic, the total number of sick and dead pigs that had to be destroyed was 1,183. Of which, there were 185 sows and boars being exploited and nearly 1,000 piglets and porkers of all kinds. In 2024, the situation became more serious when the epidemic appeared in 42 communes, wards and towns in almost all districts and cities, forcing 4,204 pigs to be destroyed. Of which, there were 797 sows and boars and 3,407 piglets and porkers.

According to Mr. Hoang Van Son, Head of the Department of Animal Husbandry, Veterinary and Fisheries, in recent years, the main cause of ASF outbreaks and its prolonged duration is the widespread nature of small-scale animal husbandry, with many households not ensuring biosafety conditions. In addition, disease control from inputs such as breeding stock, feed, and barn hygiene is still lax. Some households, when discovering sick pigs, do not report them in a timely manner, and the handling of outbreaks is slow and inconsistent. In particular, in 2024, the situation of selling sick pigs and slaughtering sick pigs for food in some areas will still occur, causing a great risk of spreading pathogens widely, reducing the effectiveness of epidemic prevention work.

Currently, the province has a total herd of over 480,000 pigs, while only over 11,000 doses of ASF vaccine have been administered. This shows that there is still a large gap between disease prevention needs and actual response capacity. To prevent the disease from recurring, the authorities recommend that localities increase propaganda for livestock farmers to raise awareness of disease prevention, strictly apply biosafety farming processes, regularly clean barns, monitor pig herds to detect early signs of abnormalities, and promptly report to veterinary agencies for handling. At the same time, strictly control the transportation, trading, and slaughter of pigs, prevent sick pigs from spreading into the environment, and avoid creating new outbreaks that make control difficult.

Recently, the Department of Agriculture and Environment has sent an official dispatch to the People's Committees of districts and cities to focus on implementing drastic and synchronous solutions to prevent and control ASF. In particular, it is requested to strictly implement the announcement of the epidemic and organize disease prevention and control in accordance with regulations in localities with epidemics; mobilize the entire political system to participate in the work of preventing and controlling animal diseases. Instruct livestock farmers to strictly implement daily hygiene and disinfection measures using lime powder, chemicals to disinfect barns and livestock areas. In particular, organize ASF vaccination to prevent this dangerous disease from spreading and breaking out.

  

Written by Dao

Source: https://baohoabinh.com.vn/274/200062/Tiem-an-nguy-co-tai-bung-phat-dich-ta-lon-Chau-Phi.htm