Blue ear disease hits pigs in north Thailand

The Thai National Animal Diagnosis Centre confirmed last Wednesday that the pig samples from Nguyet Lang Village, Minh Khai Commune, Vu Thu District, sent for testing by the provincial Animal Health Department had tested positive for blue ear disease.

In total, around 150 pigs were destroyed to prevent the disease from spreading. Of the 150, 43 were sows.

Deputy director of the Agriculture and Rural Development Ministry's Animal Breeding Department, Nguyen Thanh Son, had previously said that the loss of a sow was equivalent to losing 1-1.5 tonnes of pork a year.

The disease is suspected to have spread from Vietnam where the Vietnamese Animal Health Department confirmed that around 186,400 pigs have become infected with the disease.

The Vietnamese government announced that it would provide VND120bil (USD7.5m) to curb PRRS in central provinces.

The recent outbreak of PRRS among pigs in Vietnam has been attributed to a poor anti-epidemic system, shortage of funds and limited awareness of the importance of blue ear disease prevention and protection among farmers and veterinarians.

Officials in the country warned that northern provinces would suffer from a scarcity of pigs if the epidemic continued to spread as quickly as it has been.

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Editor PigProgress