AFRICAN SWINE FEVER HITS PIGS IN ARMENIA
ARMENPRESS
Aug 23, 2007
YEREVAN, AUGUST 23, ARMENPRESS: Armenian agricultural authorities
have confirmed today reports that several rural communities in the
northeastern provinces of Lori and Tavush are affected by a devastating
disease known as African Swine Fever (ASF).
Reports from the villages of Vahagnadzor, Vahagni, Pambak and Dsekh
say pigs died there in mass. The ministry said it has ordered swift
preventive measures to ward off spread of the disease.
In some areas of both provinces the ban on pig movements and marketing
was enforced. Pig owners were told to burn the carcasses of dead
pigs and also strict entry and exit controls between all infected
and free areas have been enforced, all vehicles and people entering
and leaving farms must undergo strict disinfection procedures.
Grisha Baghian, head of food safety and veterinary medicine department
of the ministry, said the infectious disease has in all likelihood
penetrated from the neighboring Georgia, where it has killed already
tens of thousands of pigs.
Meantime veterinary officials from the Georgian ministry of agriculture
were to meet today with their Abkhaz and Russian colleagues to discuss
the outbreak of the devastating ASF in the breakaway region. The
meeting was to take place in Gali, in the breakaway region.
The outbreak of ASF was first reported in Georgia in early June;
more than 30,000 pigs died and a total of 22,000 pigs were culled
by mid-June.
Abkhaz officials have accused Georgia of not properly handling the
crisis. Some Abkhaz officials have even accused the Georgian side
of deliberately throwing dead, diseased pigs into the Kodori river
running from the Tbilisi-controlled upper Kodori Gorge down to
Abkhaz-controlled territories.
The chief veterinarian of the breakaway region, Erik Anshba, said
it amounted to "biological terrorism." The Georgian ministry of
agriculture has, however, dismissed the allegation as "absurd."
African Swine Fever, which is highly contagious among pigs, results
in high pig mortality, as there is no vaccine against the disease. It
does not, however, affect humans.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
