MAURITIUS: Mauritius reports first swine fever outbreak

Record ID: 455168

  • Title: MAURITIUS: Mauritius reports first swine fever outbreak
  • Date: 20th October 2007
  • Summary: (AD1) POSTE DE FLACQ, MAURITIUS (OCTOBER 18, 2007) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF PIGS IN PENS
  • Embargoed: 4th November 2007 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Mauritius
  • Country: Mauritius
  • Topics: Industry
  • Reuters ID: LVACUOBQXP3MXN36CYD2D37FR0QE
  • Story Text: Mauritius reported its first African swine fever outbreak this week, and said thousands of pigs on the Indian Ocean would die or be slaughtered.
    Present in domestic and wild pigs throughout sub-Saharan Africa, some strains of African swine fever can cause severe disease and high mortality.
    The disease is not dangerous to humans.
    "We have to make sure that animals which have come into contact with those which are infected are also disposed of," said Arvin Boolell, the country's minister of agro industry and fisheries.
    Officials say there is no vaccine and no cure, and that hundreds of pigs have already died. The animals are an important source of income for many poor subsistence farmers on the island. The outbreak has also dealt a major blow to the government's efforts to boost pig farming around the country.
    "I'm really suffering really a lot, I work hard and it's all for nothing. I get up at 4 o'clock in the morning," said Jean-Claude Charlot, a pig farmer.
    Mauritius has about 17,000 pigs and those which have been in contact with infected ones will have to be culled.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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