Swine fever kills 1,300 pigs in Assam

The Assam government has dispatched teams of veterinary doctors after reports of the death of around 1,300 pigs in the state’s five districts.

What is Classical Swine Fever (CSF)?

• Hog Cholera or Classical swine fever (CSF) is a contagious viral disease of domestic and wild swine.
• It happens due to the viruses that bring viral diarrhea in pigs and ailments in sheep.
• The disease does not harm humansbut all-important precautions are advised to follow.

Prevention and Control:

• The carcasses of infected pigs should be buried or burnt in a 3–3-foot deep structure.
• Strict and rigorous hygiene treatment should be implemented to prevent the outbreak of CSF.

Economic aspect:

• According to the 20th Livestock Census, 2012-2019, the maximum number of pigs are reared in Assam.
• The annual market value of pork (raw meat of pork) in Assam is 1 billion dollars.
• Out of 4.26 lakh metric tonnes of pork produced in the country, more than 65% of pork is consumed in Assam and North-Eastern states.
• The country suffers an annual loss of about 4.299 billion rupees due to classical swine fever.

Concerns for India:

• Classical Swine Fever (CSF) is one of the biggest pigs’ diseases in India. It causes a loss of about 400 crores of rupees per year in India. This has led to a decrease in the population of pigs in 2019.
• India currently requires 22 million doses of the CSF (Classical Swine Fever) vaccine every year. However, currently, only 1.2 million doses are being produced. The reason behind its less production is that only 50 doses can be prepared from the spleen of a rabbit.

Lapinized classical swine fever vaccine

• To control the disease in India, a UK-based lapinized classical swine fever vaccine has been in use since 1964.
• This vaccine is produced by killing a large number of rabbits.
• The country needs 22 million doses of lapinized classical swine fever vaccine per year, while the production of lapinized vaccine is only 1.2 million doses per year.
• Recently, a new vaccine has also been developed in India under One Health Initiative to protect against classical swine fever.

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