Agriculture ministry calls for swift action on blue-ear disease

A worker sprays chemicals to combat blue-ear disease in the north-eastern province of Quang Ninh's Dong Trieu District. — VNA/VNS Photo Quang Quyet

HA NOI — Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Diep Kinh Tan has requested provinces plagued by blue-ear disease to take stronger action to stop the spread of the disease.

Speaking at a regular meeting of the National Steering Committee on Bird Flu Prevention and Control in Ha Noi yesterday, Tan asked the localities to strengthen farm inspections, destroy dead or sick pigs, decontaminate affected areas, and put a temporary stop to the transportation of pork from these places to prevent further spread of the disease.

He also ordered localities to have their pigs vaccinated.

Hoang Van Nam, head of the ministry's Animal Health Department, said the disease this year had been erratic in occurrence. It normally only occurred in the Hong (Red) River Delta, but this year broke out in northern mountainous provinces before spreading to the delta. The disease was first detected in the northern mountainous province of Lao Cai on January 11 and has since spread to 123 communes nationwide, ravaging 34,000 pigs – 21,700 of which had to be destroyed.

One common characteristic of the outbreak was that the disease had spread widely over a short period of time, reflecting the late detection of the disease and slow response of local leaders and farmers in the early stages of the outbreak, Nam said. — VNS