African swine fever detected in Assam, culling of pigs begins around epicentre
India Today
Assam has reported the first case of African Swine Fever, a highly infectious haemorrhagic viral disease of pigs. Authorities have also begun culling pigs around the epicentre.
Assam is the latest state to report African swine fever in pigs, after a pig in Dibrugarh's Bhogali Pathar village tested positive for the virus.
Dibrugarh animal husbandry and veterinary officer, Dr Himandu Bikash Barua, told reporters on Saturday that all pigs within a 1 km radius of the epicentre had been culled.
"We first declared the area up to 1 km as infected. According to the rules, we've killed and buried all the pigs in the infected area. Simultaneously, we have also sanitised the entire area," he said.
According to experts, African swine fever does not infect or spread to humans even though it is deadly and highly contagious for pigs.
As per government data, around 40,159 pigs died of the fever in the state, besides the culling of 1,181 pigs, till July 11 this year since 2020.
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