"We are taking swift, aggressive action to safeguard the health and economic viability of Michigan's pork industry," state Department of Agriculture director Mitch Irwin said in a news release.

"The ability of this disease to spread to hogs and other animals poses an imminent danger to the swine industry demanding an immediate response," he added.

Michigan has around 960,000 hogs. The state's pork industry in 2005 generated $230 million and produced more than 470 million pounds of pork.

On Wednesday, state agriculture officials in Wisconsin said 300 swine in a Clark County herd would be destroyed because of the virus outbreak, and that checks would be conducted for further evidence of the disease in that area.

Most of the animals in the herd are being allowed to go to slaughter for use as food, because the meat is safe to eat, officials said.

Source: WFRV.com