No Salo: Experts Expect More Than a Quarter of the World’s Pig Population to Die

The World Organization for Animal Health has reported that about a quarter of the world’s pig population will die because of the African swine fever virus, writes “Agro-Center“.

On average, more than 90% of infected pigs die in the case of an acute form of the disease. The chronic disease kills 50% of the animals. Today, there is no effective cure for ASF. To stop the spread of the disease, farmers usually kill all the pigs on the farm and destroy the carcasses.

The ASF epidemic began in 2018 in China, then spread to South Korea, the Philippines, and Vietnam. In one year alone, up to one hundred million pigs died in China. There were also outbreaks in Eastern and Western Europe.

Mark Shippy, Vice President of the World Organization for Animal Health, said that the African swine fever has become “the greatest threat to any commercial animal of our generation.”