Hanoi prepares to counter African swine fever outbreaks

A dress rehearsal took place in Thanh Mai Commune, Thanh Oai District,with a team including officials from Hanoi’s Department of Animal Health and local authorities making haste to prevent the disease from spreading further.

Each member in the team was equipped with single-use quarantine costumes. As of Wednesday, the incurable African swine fever has spread to nine cities and provinces in northern and north central Vietnam. Hanoi alone has detected outbreaks in four of its districts, with more than 6,400 pigs killed/died and disposed of.

Disinfectant is mixed with water, poured into bottles to spray in the outbreak and surrounding areas. The African swine fever is a viral disease that infects all pig species through bodily fluids such as blood and mucus, causing hemorrhagic fever and there is currently no cure for it. Humans are not affected by the disease.

Veterinary staff spray disinfectant in affected areas. During the rehearsal, Nguyen Ngoc Son, head of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Department, requested Thanh Mai Commune to stop transporting pigs and pork products for 21 days from hamlets where the disease has been detected to enable monitoring and supervision. Farmers should only restart breeding a new drove of pigs 30 days after the infected drove has been destroyed, he said.

Each infected pig and killed pig will be put into an individual bag to make for easier counting. Veterinary staff have to wear protective clothing and masks.

After the pigs are removed, the team cleans up the pigsty, sprays bactericide and sprinkles lime flour all over.

The infected pigs will be buried along with more bactericide and lime flour.

All quarantine clothing will go down into the pit as well. At quarantine posts, disinfectant will be sprayed over vehicles traveling in and out of epidemic areas to limit the spread of the virus.

Nguyen Huy Dang, deputy director of Hanoi’s agriculture department, said that apart from the rehearsal, Hanoi may also run a cleanup campaign for one month starting March 15 and set up five groups to check pig farms in all districts, in order to take timely action if any infection is found.

Hanoi is home to nearly 1,000 slaughterhouses where nearly 4,000 pigs, 200 buffaloes or cows and 28,000 poultry are butchered every day.