Recent outbreaks of blue-ear disease among pigs in four southern and one central provinces have caused severe losses to farmers, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development reported.
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| Veterinarians vaccinate pigs against the blue ear disease |
While the foot-and-mouth and avian flu diseases have been contained, blue-ear disease has spread rapidly in Long An, Tay Ninh, Soc Trang, and Tien Giang in the south and Quang Nam in the central region, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Diep Kinh Tan said at a meeting of the National Steering Board for Prevention and Control of Pandemic in Cattle and Poultry yesterday.
Long An is the worst hit, with 68 communes in nine of the province’s 14 districts affected and 7,000 pigs culled, Tan said.
In Quang Nam, the disease had broken out in Hoi An city and Dien Ban and Dai Loc Districts, local authorities reported.
Thousands of pigs had contracted it and 700 had died, they said.
Health authorities in Dien Ban have announced a pandemic.
The provincial Department of the Agriculture and Rural Development said it had bought 30,000 vaccines against the disease to distribute to affected areas.
Pork prices in Quang Nam had fallen by VND4,000-15,000 per kilogram, the department said.
Tan has ordered the Central Veterinary Drug Company to immediately provide 500,000 JXA1-R shots to the five provinces.
He ordered all relevant agencies in the affected provinces to tighten control over the disease to prevent its spread to other localities.
