African swine flu in Kozhikode; directs closure of shops selling meat

KOZHIKODE: African swine flu has been confirmed in ward seven Mundoor within the Kodanchery grama panchayat. The pigs died en masse in a private farm. This is the first time that this disease has been confirmed in pigs in Kozhikode. The animal husbandry department after noticing the unnatural death of about twenty pigs, collected the internal organs of the pigs and had sent them to the national institute of high security animal diseases lab in Bhopal. The test results were received the other day.

This disease spreads rapidly in wild and domestic pigs, but does not affect humans. It is a disease with a 100 percent mortality rate in pigs. The disease can spread to other pigs through the blood, meat, and waste of pigs infected with African swine fever, and through direct contact with an infected pig.

It has been decided to implement preventive measures in Kodanchery grama panchayat. It has been decided to kill pigs within a radius of one kilometer from the infected farm and disinfect the infected pig farm. Shops selling pork within a radius of one kilometer has been directed to close. An area within a radius of ten kilometers from the farm has been declared a surveillance zone.