The Manipur veterinary service has confirmed that African Swine Fever (ASF) is on the rise in Manipur's Imphal West area. The outbreak's epicentre has been identified as a pig farm in Imphal West's Eroisemba.
The notification declared Imphal West to be a controlled area for ASF with immediate effect. It stated that "no pig shall be moved from the place where it is kept within the controlled area, dead or alive, which is infected or reasonably suspected to have been infected, and any kind of feed or material which could have come into contact with such animal."
With numerous pigs infected with the virus, the ASF outbreak is costing pig farmers a lot of money and posing a threat to their livelihood. The price of pork, a very popular meat product in Manipur, is reportedly now between Rs 180 and Rs 200 per kg.
Following a decision from the Manipur government's Veterinary and Animal Husbandry Department, a notification confirming the outbreak was released on Friday, 13 October.
In addition, Ng Ibotombi Singh, the director of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Services in Imphal West, has been tasked with seeing to it that prompt action is taken to stop the spread of African swine fever (ASF).
There are nine million pigs in India, of which 45% are in the country's north-eastern (NE) states. Pig viral infections are a major cause of death and a significant financial loss for pig farmers. One such illness is African swine fever , which has already breached the open borders of India's NE states.
ASF is a fatal disease that affects wild boar and pigs, and it is extremely contagious and results in death in 100% of cases. African swine fever virus (ASFV), the responsible agent, is a member of the Asfarviridae family of viruses. This virus only affects pigs as a host species.
Since the sickness was originally documented in Kenya in 1921, reports have also come from China, Myanmar, Russia, and Europe.
The World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) released the first report on ASF in India on 21 May 2020, stating that a total of 3,701 pigs had perished in 11 outbreaks (morbidity: 38.45%; mortality: 33.89%) in the Indian states of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh.