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African Swine Fever Hits Pigs In Armenia

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  • African Swine Fever Hits Pigs In Armenia

    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
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