ASF, which is a serious issue in many countries at the moment, is caused by a virus. There is no vaccine and no treatment. Pigs that become infected die. Dr Peter Evans discussed ASF at CS Vet’s information day.
Symptoms include:
• Infected pigs have fever.
• They do not eat.
• They remain lying down.
• The ears, the legs, and the lower part of the belly are red (better visible
in white pigs).
• They may have discharge from eyes and nose, vomiting, diarrhoea or
constipation, weakness of the hind legs, abortions, pain in the abdomen, and
difficult breathing.
• Dead pigs have fluid in the chest and abdomen, their organs are red and
swollen, there is bleeding in organs, and the lungs are very wet.
“The only
way to protect your herd is to have the best biosecurity measures possible in
place,” Dr Evans said.
The basics are:
• Fence your piggery effectively to prevent access by people and animals. If
possible prevent animals being able to dig under the fence.
• Don’t allow other types of animals or pets within your piggery fence.
• Don’t allow visitors into your piggery if they have been in contact with
other pigs in last two days.
• You should provide all visitors with overalls and boots before entering your
farm. They must leave these overalls and boots on your farm when they leave.
• Don’t allow people to eat within the piggery and especially not to bring pork
or pork products into the piggery.
• Make sure that vehicles and goods you bring into your piggery are not a risk.
Always disinfect vehicles and goods before they enter the piggery.
• Only bring pigs in from a piggery, which has a known disease status. That
piggery’s health status should be the same or better than your piggery’s
status. Never bring pigs from auction facilities into your piggery.
• Do not feed swill (dead poultry, poultry offal and animal offal included).
The use of vegetables is not a risk, but feeding meat products to pigs is
risky.
• Dead pigs must be disposed so that they do not pose a possible source of
disease to pigs outside of your piggery and are not used for human consumption.
• THINK before you say YES
. If you think doing/allowing any action in your
piggery is a disease risk – don’t do it
The South African Pork Producers’ Organisation (SAPPO) coordinates industry interventions and collaboratively manages risks in the value chain to enable the sustainability and profitability of pork producers in South Africa.
