African swine fever, a disease that has killed tens of millions of pigs, has resurfaced in several Asian countries this year, with governments struggling to overcome the spread.
China, Vietnam and Malaysia have documented cases of disease that have previously devastated the region’s workforce, Bloomberg News reported months.
So far, the new cases are isolated, but the reappearance of the virus, which is not known to harm humans, raises concerns about another potential meat shortage.
China, where half of the world’s pigs live, has found cases in Hebei, Henan, Sichuan, Yunnan and Xinjiang, according to Bloomberg. Beijing has promised to stop illegal vaccines for the virus, which have been linked to recent outbreaks.
The re-emergence threatens the country’s targets, which have been hardest hit by swine fever since the first outbreak in 2018, to achieve a full recovery of the herd by the middle of this year. Economic experts monitor the number of pigs in China to determine the nation’s need for imported grain and meat.
In Vietnam, about 2,000 pigs were slaughtered by the end of February as more than 20 regions documented new cases, Bloomberg reported, citing the agriculture ministry. The country had lost almost 6 million pigs in 2019, when the disease hit herds. Vietnam expects to have its official vaccine against the virus ready this summer.
Malaysia confirmed its first case of African swine fever last month, leading the government to announce that 3,000 pigs will be slaughtered in the state of Sabah. The state government reportedly said on Sunday that while the virus was found in other districts, commercial pig farms had no outbreaks.