Blue ear disease, also known as Porcine Reproductive & Respiratory (PRRS) has hit at least 15,000 pigs in six northern and central locales since the illness reared its head again early this month.

According statements made by the Animal Health Department Friday, nearly half of the sick pigs have died of the disease or been destroyed by local health agencies or farmers in the six provinces and cities.

Last June, the department said that Viet Nam had successfully curbed the spread of foot-and-mouth disease, bird flu and the blue ear pig disease. But blue ear cropped up again in Hai Duong province 3 April.

In other health news, Minister of Health Trinh Quan Huan on Friday ordered the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology to study changes in cholera bacteria that have caused recent outbreaks in five provinces and cities, including Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.

The ministry wanted to know if the current strain was the same as that which sickened hundreds of people during severe cholera outbreaks in northern Viet Nam in 2008 and 2009, according to Huan.

Viet Nam has recorded 21 cases of the disease this year. HCMC has been the worst hit locale with nine cases reported so far.

Hai Duong authorities are tightening controls over the slaughter and transport of pigs as the blue-ear disease has recurred in the province after a gap of nine months, with nearly 40 pigs so far killed this month.

The pig meat and fat, which were found at Vu Thi Tien’s house on Le Chan Street in Hai Duong Town, were untested and their origins unknown, the police said.

According to Thanh Nien News, they added that around 55 kilograms had become rotten.

Mr Tien told the police that she bought pork from Hai Duong Town and Gia Loc, Tu Ky, and Ninh Giang districts in the province every day and sold them in the neighboring Hai Phong City.

Further Reading

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