African Swine Fever confirmed in domestic pigs in Kailali and Kanchanpur

Kathmandu. The infection of ‘African Swine Fever’ has been confirmed in pigs reared in different parts of Kailali and Kanchanpur districts. The infection was confirmed by the technical examination conducted after the pigs reared commercially for some time had high fever, blue and red spots on various parts of the body and unexpectedly started dying pigs.

The Livestock Disease Investigation Laboratory, Dhangadhi had mobilized the Rapid Response Team (RRT) and collected the samples at the local level. The samples were brought to the Central Veterinary Disease Investigation Laboratory, Kathmandu for further testing after the results came positive in the rapid antigen method. Senior veterinarian at the laboratory, Naresh Prasad Joshi, said that the infection was confirmed during the PCR test.

According to him, the virus has been detected in pigs reared by farmers in Dhangadhi Sub-metropolitan City, Ghodaghodi Municipality of Kailali and Krishnapur Municipality of Kanchanpur. The infection of the disease is in the early stages. Joshi said that if the farmers do not take precautionary measures in time and implement bio-security measures, the pig farmers may have to face a huge financial loss.

He said that the owners of the farms where the samples were collected have been alerted and urged to adopt high alertness to prevent the spread of the infection elsewhere. African Swine Fever is a highly contagious and deadly disease caused by the virus in domestic pigs, pigs and wild boars.

It is considered to be very dangerous in the animal health sector as the mortality rate of pigs infected with this disease can be up to 100 percent. Years of investment and hard work of farmers can be destroyed in an instant as there is a risk of wiping out entire herds once the infection spreads.