120 Pigs Die in Chitwan Due to African Swine Fever Outbreak

Chitwan. 120 pigs have died in the district due to African Swine Fever. The pigs that died were from two farms in Ichhakamana Rural Municipality and one farm in Bharatpur Metropolitan City.

Dr. Prabhat Neupane, Chief of the Animal Service Office, informed that samples have been collected and sent for testing after symptoms of the fever were observed in one additional farm in Bharatpur Metropolitan City. According to him, African Swine Fever is a highly contagious viral disease with a high mortality rate in domestic pigs, wild boars, and swine species. This disease was first confirmed in Nepal on Jestha 2, 2079 BS.

Neupane informed that the disease can spread through direct contact between infected pigs, through the saliva, feces, blood, meat, and contaminated feed and water of sick pigs, through the transportation or sale of sick pigs, and through the use of clothing, shoes, and slippers by workers in infected pens or by people visiting infected pens.

He stated that symptoms shown by pigs affected by this disease include huddling together, blue spots appearing on the body, blood clots visible on the tips of the ears, frothing from the nose, high fever (104 to 107 degrees Fahrenheit) in infected pigs, redness of the outer skin on the ears, tail, and lower abdomen, lethargy, loss of appetite, vomiting, restlessness, staggering gait, and abortion.

The office stated that measures such as keeping pigs confined when farming, preventing unnecessary movement of people into pig pens, and adopting biosecurity measures on pig farms should be adopted to prevent this disease.

Neupane added that losses can be minimized by keeping newly brought pigs from outside herds in quarantine for 21 days without mixing them directly with the pigs already on the farm, and only introducing them to the herd after no disease is observed. Other preventive measures include regular cleaning of the pig pen and its surroundings and disinfecting with lime, phenol, formalin, bleaching powder, etc., and separating sick pigs from the herd and keeping them isolated.