Agri National

No Vaccine for Africa Swine Fever

By Prince Paul Amuzu:

The Veterinary Officer for the Lower Manya Krobo Municipal, Mr. Isaac Nyumatei has observed that there is currently no vaccination to treat the African swine fever that is affecting pigs. According to the Veterinary Officer, pig farmers across the country should be very vigilant and observant in order to quickly report any strange symptoms they notice in the behavior and appearance of their pigs in order to make a report to the appropriate authorities.

According to the veterinary officer, there is no medicine as at now to cure the African Swine Fever and what they could do as a department is to prevent it from spreading from one pig to the other or from one farm to the other by educating the pig farming and business operators on the causes and preventive measures to curtail the situation.

Speaking on the Rite Agric Forum on Saturday hosted by Austin Offori Addo on how to control the disease to curtail its further spread, he said ‘the disease is caused through eating of contaminated foods that the pigs feed on the environment they find themselves”.  According to him most farmers feed their animals with anything in the name of food without taking their health implications into concentration let alone take care of where they sleep.

On the symptoms of the African Swine Fever, Mr. Nyumutei explained that infected pigs loses appetite, develops red eyeballs, becomes physically weak and suffers from diarrhea and then depending on the color of its skin, has blood stains all over the body. He also added that affected pigs die within three days after infection.

The recent outbreak of the disease in the Ashanti Region, he noted must serve as a national call which must be received by all Ghanaians on the measures that must be taken to curtail the situation because it has become a source of worry to most Ghanaians especially, pig farmers and pork lovers. He however added that there are no dangers inherent in consuming the meat of infected pigs.

He therefore advised the general public, especially pig farmers to report  any symptoms suspected to be that of the Swine fever to the appropriate authorities so that immediate action can be taken by quarantining them for killing and compensation paid by the appropriate authorities. He also advised the pig farmers to feed their pigs with healthy and correct type of feed and keep them in a nice and clean environment.

source: ritefmonline.org

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