After the first cases of African swine fever in South Korea, the authorities have started to kill thousands of animals. The disease had occurred in a pig farm near the border with North Korea, said the Ministry of Agriculture today. In a farm in Paju five pigs died yesterday. As a precaution against spreading the disease, nearly 4,000 pigs were killed in three farms in the north of the country.
The first cases of African swine fever in the south of the Korean peninsula were detected about four months after an outbreak at the border with China in North Korea. Since an outbreak in China in August of last year, the disease has also spread to neighboring countries, including Mongolia and Vietnam.
The South Korean authorities had all pig farms, slaughterhouses and animal feed operations in the country shut down for 48 hours. In about 6,300 pig farms, the animals are to be examined and the plants to be disinfected. According to official figures, the number of pigs kept in the country is around 11.3 million. The virus infection is harmless to humans, but mostly fatal to pigs. A vaccine is not possible.
