"CAU pig farm not epicentre"
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, October 16 2023: Identifying the pig farm at the College of Agriculture, CAU Iroishemba as "epicentre" of African Swine Fever by the Government is "very unfortunate", said Principal Investigator of All India Coordinated Research Project on Pig, Manipur Centre.

At a farmer sensitising programme on African Swine Fever held at the College of Agriculture, Principal Investigator Assistant Professor M Norjit Singh said an order issued by the Government has wrongly portrayed the scientific pig farm at CAU as the epicentre of the African Swine Fever.

The use of the word "epicentre" in the order has created a notion among the people and farmers that the African Swine Fever in Manipur was spread from the farm at CAU, which is not true, he said.

The pig farm at CAU is research based and scientific.

Any illness or death of pig in the farm is handled well and samples are taken to be tested in Guwahati.

Norjit said he himself took a sample to the Regional Diagnostic Laboratory at Guwahati on October 10 .

After the sample was tested positive for African Swine Fever, the order was issued mentioning the pig farm at CAU as the "epicentre" of the virus.

Instead of using the term, the Government should have said a sample from CAU has tested positive for African Swine Fever.

This would have avoided the misinformation, he said.

Stating that the CAU is not the epicentre, Norjit stressed that 1-2 months before the CAU pig farm sample was taken and tested, there were reports of pigs dying in Manipur.

Meanwhile, after the detection of the case at the pig farm at CAU, all dead pigs have been buried deep (about 5 feet) using chemicals and the farm has been sealed off, Norjit said.

African swine fever (ASF) is a highly contagious viral disease of domestic and wild pigs, whose mortality rate can reach 100% .

It is not a danger to human health, but it has devastating effects on the pig population and the farming economy.

African Swine fever has no vaccine.

In the acute form pigs develop a high temperature (40.5 degrees C or 105 degrees F), then become dull and go off their food.

Other symptoms can vary but will include some or all of the following: vomiting, diarrhoea (sometimes bloody), reddening or darkening of the skin, particularly ears and snout, gummed up eyes, laboured breathing and coughing, abortion, still births and weak litters, weakness and unwillingness to stand.

For more information on African Swine Fever, the institute/experts can be contacted at [email protected] .

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