SWINE FEVER IN INDIA

Recently, African Swine Fever has been confirmed for the first time, at a private pig farm in in Kerala, after more than 15 pigs on the farm had died due to the disease in the last ten days.
It is a highly contagious and fatal animal disease that infects and leads to an acute form of hemorrhagic fever in domestic and wild pigs.

Other manifestations of the disease include:

It was first detected in Africa in the 1920s.

Historically, outbreaks have been reported in Africa and parts of Europe, South America, and the Caribbean.
However, since 2007, the disease has been reported in multiple countries across Africa, Asia and Europe, in both domestic and wild pigs.
The mortality is close to 95% – 100% and since the fever has no cure, the only way to stop its spread is by culling the animals.
ASF is not a threat to human beings since it only spreads from animals to other animals.
ASF is a disease listed in the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE)’s Terrestrial Animal Health Code.

Clinical Signs:

The clinical signs of ASF may occur in chronic, sub-acute or acute form.
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.

Transmission:

Direct contact with infected pigs, faeces or body fluids.
Indirect contact via fomites such as equipment, vehicles or people who work with pigs between pig farms with ineffective biosecurity.
Pigs eating infected pig meat or meat products.
Biological vectors – ticks of the species Ornithodoros.

Classical Swine Fever

CSF, also known as Hog Cholera, is an important disease of pigs.
It is one of the most economically-damaging pandemic viral diseases of pigs in the world.
It is caused by a virus of the genus Pestivirus of the family Flaviviridae, which is closely related to the viruses that cause bovine viral diarrhoea in cattle and border disease in sheep.
Mortality rate of Classical Swine Fever is 100%.
Recently, the Indian Council of Agricultural Research ICAR-Indian Veterinary Research Institute IVRI developed a Cell Culture CSF Vaccine(live attenuated) using the Lapinized Vaccine Virus from foreign strain.
The new vaccine has been found to induce protective immunity from day 14 of the Vaccination till 18 Months.

WorldOrganisation for Animal Health

WOAH was formerly called the “Office International des Epizooties”.
OIE is an intergovernmental organisation responsible for improving animal health worldwide.
It has 182 Member Countries.
India is one of the member countries.
OIE develops normative documents relating to rules that Member Countries can use to protect themselves from the introduction of diseases and pathogens.
One of them is the Terrestrial Animal Health Code.
OIE standards are recognised by the World Trade Organization as reference international sanitary rules.
It is headquartered in Paris, France.

SOURCE: THE HINDU,THE ECONOMIC TIMES,MINT

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