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African swine fever case confirmed in Bareilly, advisory issued
The Indian Veterinary and Research Institute, Bareilly has declared the 1-km radius area as containment zone and issued a detailed advisory to pig owners after African swine fever case was confirmed
A case of African swine fever (ASF) was confirmed in Bhandsar village of Bareilly district by the Indian Veterinary and Research Institute (IVRI) on Thursday. Following the confirmation, the one-kilometre radius area has been declared a containment zone. After Lucknow and Kanpur, Bareilly was the third district in the state to confirm an ASF case. IVRI also issued a detailed advisory, defining dos and don’ts, to the pig owners.
Though scientists and experts claim that the disease doesn’t affect humans, the case has created panic among the public.
On July 19, the animal husbandry department confirmed ASF as a cause of deaths of nearly 105 pigs in five days in Lucknow. Similarly, in Kanpur, more than 70 pigs were found dead within 72 hours due to ASF.
Dr KP Singh, joint director, Centre for Animal Disease Research and Diagnosis (CADRAD) — a wing of IVRI aimed at keeping a check on emerging animal diseases, confirmed the ASF case in Bareilly. He said, “On examining the viscera, sent to IVRI by the animal owner from Bhandsar village of Bareilly for testing, the presence of ASF was detected. In the case history, the pet owner had mentioned that the pig was suffering from a high fever for the last few days and had stopped eating food. In the testing, ASF was confirmed late on Thursday night.”
As soon as ASf was confirmed, IVRI sent teams of scientists to the village to collect further samples and issued a strict advisory outlining the dos and don’ts for the animal owners. “We immediately told them to quarantine the infected animal once the symptoms surface,” said Singh.
He, however, confirmed that the samples collected from other pigs on the farm were found to be negative.
Before Bareilly, Kanpur had reported the death of more than 70 pigs apparently due to ASF. Kanpur Municipal Corporation (KMC) teams recovered the dead bodies from the Govind Nagar Canal. The teams also found two more pigs dead in Nirala Nagar on July 21. An autopsy was conducted by a team of four veterinarians -- Dr Sudhir Srivastava, Dr GP Gupta, Dr Mahesh Chandra and Dr Tribhuvan. The samples have been sent to a lab in Bhopal, and results are expected in the next three days. Meanwhile, RPN Mishra, chief veterinary officer, Nagar Nigam Kanpur, has issued an order to lodge an FIR against the erring pig owners, who are found dumping the bodies of the infected pigs in the open.
A few days back in Lucknow, the animal husbandry department, chief veterinary officer Dr Devesh Sharma had confirmed the ASF behind the death of over 100 pigs in the Faizullahganj area of the state capital.
