While ASF is not a threat for Indonesian people, FAO said that it is a challenge to tackle ASF in the ASEAN country with the fourth-largest population in the world. (Image via DW)

African Swine Fever is not contagious to humans: Source

Alfonsus Adi Putra
Business & Industry
Agriculture& Livestock
Dec 28, 2019
2711
From China to Indonesia, African Swine Fever (ASF) has slaughtered pigs, leading to exorbitant pork prices. Not only the price but also many people are afraid to contract the disease after eating pork. Rest assured, ASF, caused by double-stranded Asfarviridae virus, does not affect humans, only swine.

The swine are prone to ASF after contacting with other infected swine, alive or dead. Also, swine are exposed to the virus in their contaminated feed since Asfarviridae has strong environmental resistance. In its acute stage, the mortality rate is 100 percent, while for sub-acute, the mortality rate is only 30 – 70 percent

Fortunately, until now, there is no human case of ASF as reported by the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE).

However, until now, there has been no antidote nor vaccine to tackle the disease.

ASF also caused economic and production loss for certain countries, leading to the pork prices hike. China was the first Asian country to catch the ASF. Beginning its outbreak in China in 2018, some countries such as Cambodia, Vietnam, South Korea (S. Korea), North Korea (N. Korea), Laos, Myanmar, and the Philippines already caught the ASF.

Indonesia also caught the unprecedented swine disease recently. In North Sumatera, about 27,000 infected swine had been culled. However, to this day, about 1,000 – 2,000 swine died daily due to ASF. According to Indonesia's Ministry of Agriculture, about 16 regencies and cities in Sumatera had caught ASF.

United Nations’ (U.N’s) Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) stated that it collaborated with the world’s governments to tackle ASF, but Indonesia has its own obstacles. Compared to China that breeds and keeps its swine in an organized, factory-like environment, Indonesia keeps its swine unorganized, keeping them in small cages and selling them directly to the market. Hence, FAO said that the virus can spread easily.

Source: https://bit.ly/2MyDYU0

Agriculture , Livestock , Business , ASF , Swine , Pork , Economy , Export-Import , Market , ASEAN , Indonesia , FAO