African Swine Fever (ASF) is caused by ASF virus which is a highly contagious virus that causes hemorrhagic fever and has high mortality rates in pigs. While ASF virus does not directly harm humans, its ability to spread widely among pigs can be disastrous for the millions of people worldwide who rely on pigs for sustenance as well as economic security. The virus can be spread via a farm workers’ contaminated shoes, clothing, and equipment. Also, ticks have the ability to act as vectors for the disease. Currently there is no vaccine or treatment for infected animals. So far, there have been two major outbreaks in China with the second outbreak seeing over 9000 pigs killed as a result of ASF virus. Medical professionals believe that the increased consumption and increased number of pig imports to China has greatly contributed to the rise of ASF virus. The vast differences in size between pork producers in China has made it very difficult for scientists to track ASF’s path of infection. In hopes of gaining the cooperation of producers, the Chinese government has decided to immediately compensate pork producers for culled pigs in an effort to stop them from slaughtering sick pigs then sell their meat.
(Check out the full story here: http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/08/can-china-world-s-biggest-pork-producer-contain-fatal-pig-virus-scientists-fear-worst)
-Ezra Yoseph
No comments:
Post a Comment