What is African Swine Fever, now spreading in Assam after causing havoc in China?

A virus that affects pigs and that led to the death of over 100 million pigs in China has started spreading in Assam, after the reports emerged that around 2,800 pigs died of the African Swine Fever Virus (ASFV) since February.

Affecting only pigs, ASF is not like COVID-19. Unlike the novel coronavirus, however, it is far more fatal for the host it infects, killing nearly 100 per cent of pigs that contract the virus. Its effect then, since it was first detected in Africa in 1909, has been to hurt food security in societies that consume pork.

During a visit to the Regional Institute of Livestock Entrepreneurship and Management at Rani, Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal asked the Veterinary and Forest Departments to work with the National Pig Research Centre of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) to draw up a plan to save the state’s pig population from the virus. He asked doctors and functionaries to ensure sanitation was maintained in places where pigs stay and recommended cleanliness, distancing and containment in the absence of vaccines.

An expert team has been constituted to deal with the problem.

ASF can be devastating for pig populations. In China, the world’s largest importer and producer of pork, the virus is estimated to have taken out up to 60 per cent of China’s pig population in 2019 according to official figures cited by the South China Morning Post. Figures released by the Chinese government say that up to 60 per cent of the population was lost due to culling. The result was soaring consumer inflation as pork prices went up by 110 per cent across China, as pork prices are deeply tied to China’s Consumer Price Index.

By the turn of 2020, China was still recovering from the deadly outbreak out 2018-19, that marked the first time that the virus was seen in East Asia and that led to an estimated quarter of the world’s pig population dying as a result. A resurgence in cases, however, raised fears that the virus would return.

The ASF was first detected in Kenya in 1909, and spread across Europe and the Americas in the 1960s-80s. In 2018, Shenyang, China, became home to the first and deadliest outbreak of the virus in Asia; following which, ASF started spreading in the Philippines, Vietnam, East Timor and South Korea. The virus is spread to pigs, warthogs and wild boars through ticks and causes the animal to suffer fever, fatigue, difficulty breathing, skin discolourations, blood clots, diarrhoea, vomiting and, usually, death within ten days.

In India, pork consumption is mostly negligible, prominent only in select states. According to the Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying, the eastern states have a pig population of 2.8 million while the northeastern states have 4.5 million.

China’s Harbin Veterinary Research Institute has claimed to have developed a vaccine for the virus but has yet to announce its commercial availability. Shandong Landsee Genetics, a Chinese company, has also been working on breeding ASF-resistant pigs.