African swine fever spreading in Bac Kan

According to the Bac Kan Department of Animal Health, on August 17 and August 18, 2023, this unit received information from Na Ri District Agricultural Service Center and Ngan Son District Agricultural Service Center about 4 cases of sick pigs, that died scatterly and all and have not received any vaccinations.

In which, Na Ri district recorded 3 cases in Cu Le, Liem Thuy and Dong Xa communes. Notably, the disease occurred in pigs in Mr Ban Van Chiu's household living in Po Pai village, Cu Le commune (5 pigs in total) with 4 sick pigs and 1 dead pig.

The above 3 cases were sent to the Central Veterinary Diagnostic Center, the results were 2 positive, and 1 negative for African swine fever virus.

In Ngan Son district, the disease occurred in pigs in Mrs Hoang Thi Dung's household living in Pu Mo village, Bang Van commune (a total herd of 4 pigs). They recorded 3 sick pigs and 1 death. According to the test results from the Central Veterinary Diagnostic Center, the case in Ngan Son district was positive for the African swine fever virus.

Faced with the above situation, the Sub-Department of Animal Health requested the People's Committee of Na Ri district and the People's Committee of Ngan Son district to direct the district's specialized agencies. People's Committees of communes with epidemics need to expeditiously organize the implementation of measures to prevent and control the African swine fever virus in accordance with regulations.

It is known that the epidemic area is a highland village, the locals here mainly are people who do small-scale livestock raising on a household scale.

The African swine fever virus appeared in highland villages, showing that the level of spread is difficult to control. In Bac Kan province, after nearly a year without the epidemic, now, there has now been an outbreak in the two districts of Pac Nam, Na Ri and Ngan Son district.

To prevent the disease from spreading on a large scale and affecting the livestock situation in the province, The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development has just decided to export chemicals to the national reserve to support Bac Kan province in the prevention of animal diseases.

Accordingly, the Pharmaceutical and Veterinary Supplies Joint Stock Company issued (without collection of capital) 5,000 litres of Han-Iodine chemical as a national reserve for Bac Kan province to prevent animal diseases.

Implement the release, delivery and receipt of the above-mentioned chemicals in a timely manner and in accordance with regulations. After completing the task of exporting and delivering national reserve goods to support the locality, the company must summarize the implementation results and report to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

The People's Committee of Bac Kan province is responsible for the accuracy of the reported data requested for support and directs the receipt, management and use of the above-mentioned chemicals in a timely and correct manner.

After completing the work of receiving and distributing national reserves for local support, the People's Committee of Bac Kan province is requested to report the implementation results to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to summarize and report to the Prime Minister.

Previously, in March 2019, African swine fever appeared in 703 villages in 116 communes, wards and towns of Bac Kan province. The epidemic appeared in the pig herd of nearly 4,300 households, the number of pigs that had to be destroyed was more than 27,000, equivalent to 1,200 tons, causing heavy losses to farmers. In 2022, this disease continues to re-emerge in this locality, causing a lot of damage.

Currently, the total pig herd of Bac Kan province is about 165,000 heads, outside of some large farms of enterprises and cooperatives, pig raising is mainly small-scale and contained in households. Due to small-scale livestock production, disease prevention is very difficult, small farmers lack knowledge to prevent diseases for their livestock. When an epidemic occurs, it is easy to spread to a large area.

In July 2023, 300,000 doses of AVAC ASF LIVE African swine fever vaccine of AVAC Vietnam Joint Stock Company were officially imported to the Philippines by KPP Powers Commodites Inc. This opens up new opportunities for farmers in this country to fight against African swine fever. Previously, AVAC Company also cooperated to test the AVAC ASF LIVE vaccine in the Philippines.