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Taiwan Quick Take: Pig disease alert issued

Chiayi County agricultural authorities urged local hog farmers and veterinarians yesterday to be on the alert for an outbreak of an unknown disease infecting pigs in southern China, where 40 percent of affected livestock have died and the outbreak has shown signs of spreading. County animal Disease Control Center officials said that infected sows are prone to have miscarriages or still-births. High fever, high mortality and a fast infection rate are the main indications of the unidentified disease, which has been found in Jiangxi, Hunan, Guangtong, Hubei, Anhui, Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Fujian provinces, with around 1 million pigs having died in Jiangxi alone. To prevent the outbreak from spreading across the Taiwan Strait, Hsu Ling-sung (徐菱松), county director of agricultural affairs, urged local pig farmers not to visit the affected areas. For those unable to cancel plans to travel to the affected regions, Hsu advised them to stay away from their farms for one week after returning from China.


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