Mizoram: Swine flu outbreak kills over 1700 pigs
The outbreak of African Swine Fever (ASF), which has killed nearly 1,700 pigs in more than a month in different parts of Mizoram, is yet to be contained, officials stated on Thursday.
State animal husbandry and veterinary department joint director (Livestock Health) Dr Lalhmingthanga said that the dreaded pig disease is spreading further to other domains even though the daily death toll in the epicentre showed a declining trend in the past few weeks.
The state government had earlier declared Lungsen village and the Lunglei’s Electric Veng locality in Lunglei district, Armed Veng and Edenthar neighbourhoods in Aizawl, Keitum village in Serchhip district, and a locality (Vaipi-I) in south Mizoram Siaha town as “epicentre” of African Swine Fever.
Lalhmingthanga further added that more areas are yet to be declared as the epicentre of the pig disease on Friday.
According to him, at least 1,728 pigs have died so far due to ASF. The first death was reported on March 21 at Lungsen village in Lunglei district near the Bangladesh border.
"The financial losses caused by the ASF have been evaluated at Rs 6.91 crore," he said.
On Thursday, at least 21 pig deaths were registered due to ASF.
The widespread pig disease has currently affected five districts- Aizawl, Lunglei, Serchhip, Lawngtlai and Mamit, according to Lalhmingthanga.
Samples of the deceased pigs have been collected for tests. However, the cause of the "death," is yet to be confirmed, he added.
The origin of ASF infection is suspected to be caused by pigs shipped from neighbouring Bangladesh and Myanmar, officials informed.
(Edited by Ridhika Joshi)
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