African Swine Fever: African Swine Fever (ASF) has been detected in many states of India. After which orders have also been issued to kill pigs in many areas. A few days ago, the central government had warned Kerala to take all precautions regarding this danger. Now in Mizoram and Jharkhand also, there is talk of African swine fever spreading in wild animals.

After the death of more than 100 pigs due to suspected African Swine Fever in Jharkhand's Ranchi district since July 27, the Animal Husbandry Department has issued an alert asking them to take precautionary measures. Giving this information on Saturday, an official said that the samples of affected pigs have been sent to the National Institute of High-Security Animal Diseases, Bhopal and Regional Disease Diagnostic Laboratory in Kolkata to find out about the actual disease. An advisory has been issued to all the districts of Jharkhand to take precautionary measures and follow protocols like COVID-19 in case of such incident. Along with this, the department has also started swine fever vaccination campaign.

At the same time, there is talk of outbreak of African swine fever in wild boars in Mizoram too. Dr Lalmingthanga, Joint Director, Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Department, told PTI that the samples taken from the carcasses of wild boar found in two forest areas of Champhai district were sent to the National Institute of High Security Animal Diseases in Bhopal. It has been confirmed that these pigs have been killed by ASF. Earlier, ASF was reported only from farms and households in the northeastern state. According to the data released by the State Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Department on Thursday, a total of 9,891 pigs have died due to the ASF outbreak since February this year.

Dr Lalmingthanga, Joint Director, Department of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine, said that the Mizoram government has decided to write a letter to the Center requesting it to import vaccines against the disease from Vietnam. He said that it appears that vaccination is the only option left to stop the outbreak of this disease of pigs. Palamingthanga said that it is now recognized that the disease cannot be eradicated through existing containment measures, as per the National Action Plan, as the outbreak is now being treated as a pandemic. He said that right now vaccination is the only way to stop this outbreak. The official said vaccines against ASF are available in Vietnam, but importing them requires Centre's approval. The state government will next week inform the Center about the detection of ASF in wild boar.

According to the US Food and Drug Administration, African swine fever (AFS) is a highly contagious and fatal disease that can infect both farm-grown and wild boars. The mortality rate in African swine fever can be up to 100%. African swine virus can spread rapidly from one infected pig to another through direct contact with other pigs through bodily fluids.

It is being told that human behavior can play an important role in the spread of this virus and if necessary precautionary steps are not taken, it can soon spread the infection to a large regional area. African swine fever has ravaged the pork industry in recent years, as it wipes out large populations of pigs.