AFRICAN SWINE FEVER

The disease has been confirmed on a private pig farm at Kanichar grama panchayat in Kannur.

This was first reported in November 2019 from the area of China bordering Arunachal Pradesh.

About

African swine fever is a highly contagious and fatal animal disease that infects and leads to an acute form of hemorrhagic fever in domestic and wild pigs.
Other symptoms of the disease include high fever, depression, anorexia, loss of appetite, haemorrhages in the skin, vomiting, and diarrhoea among others.

History

It was first detected in Africa in the 1920s.
Historically outbreaks have been reported in Africa and parts of Europe, South America, and the Caribbean.
Most recently since 2007, the diseases have been reported in multiple countries across Africa, Asia, and Europe, in both domestic and wild pig
The mortality is close to 100% and since the fever has no cure, the only way to stop its spread is by culling the animals.
African swine fever is not a threat to human beings since it only spreads from animals to other animals.
ASF is a disease listed in the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) Terrestrial Animal Health Code and thus, reported to the OIE.

Transmission:

Direct contact with the infected pigs, faeces, or body fluids.
Indirect contact via fomites such as equipment, vehicles, or people who work with pigs between pig farms with ineffective biosecurity.
Pigs eating infected pig meat or meat products.

World Organisation for Animal Health

It is an intergovernmental organization responsible for improving animal health worldwide.
It has 182 Member Countries. India is one of the member countries.
It develops normative documents relating to rules that Member Countries can use to protect themselves from the introduction of diseases and pathogens. One of them is the Terrestrial Animal Health Code.
OIE standards are recognized by the World Trade Organization as references to international sanitary rules.
Its headquartered in Paris, France.

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Source: The Hindu

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