|
 A provincial official said on Wednesday that more than 4,000 pigs
had died after an outbreak of classical swine fever, also known as
hog cholera.
"Clinical symptoms and laboratory test results point to African
swine fever, but there are also samples that are positive for hog
cholera," Fadjar Sumping Tjatur Rassa, the agriculture ministry's
director of animal health, told Reuters.
Classical swine fever was first detected in September in the
province's Dairi district, a local official said.
Rassa could not say how many of the pigs deaths may have been caused
by an outbreak of African swine fever (ASF).
"For the ASF, of concern is the economic loss because of its rapid
spread and its high mortality rate," Rassa said, adding that both
classical swine flu and ASF did not infect humans.
He said the government had implemented bio-security measures in the
affected areas by ordering authorities to immediately bury pig
carcasses and disinfect areas to prevent the virus spreading.
[to top of second column] |
Pigs and pork products from affected the area could not be
transported to other places, he said.
Video footage showed officials from authorities in North Sumatra
collecting pig carcasses that had been thrown into rivers this week
by boat in order to bury them.
East Timor, which shares an island with Indonesia's East Nusa
Tenggara province, reported in September that there were 100
outbreaks of ASF, killing 405 backyard pigs.
(Reporting by Bernadette Christina Munthe; Writing by Fransiska
Nangoy; Editing by Edmund Blair)
[© 2019 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2019 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.
 |
