African swine fever kills 120 pigs in Chitwan

Chitwan, March 17: One hundred twenty pigs have died in Chitwan district due to African swine fever in Chitwan district.     

Pigs at two farms located at Ichchhakamana Rural Municipality and one farm at Bharatpur Metropolitan City have died of the disease.     

Chief of Livestock Service Office, Dr Prabhat Neupane, shared that samples have been collected after pigs reared in another farm of Bharatpur metropolis developed symptoms of fever and sent them for test.     

African swine fever is a highly contagious viral disease of domestic and wild pigs with high mortality rates, he added.     

This disease was confirmed on May 16, 2022 for the first time in Nepal. It is transferred from direct contact with infected pigs, from salvia, blood, meat of infected pigs, transporting and selling infected pigs, using clothes, shoes, slippers used by a person who had entered in the cage of infected pigs, Neupane said.     

According to the Office, various measures like stopping movement of people in the cage of infected pigs and adopting bio-safety methods in cages should be adopted to save pigs and boars from this disease.     

He mentioned that pigs should not be mixed with infected ones, pig cages and its surrounding should be cleaned regularly, and the infected pigs should be kept separately to reduce losses.(RSS)