Can swine fever spread through the air? A must-read for pig farmers
The outbreak of swine fever has caused a certain degree of economic loss to many farmers, and most farmers still do not know much about swine fever. What are the ways swine fever spreads? Can swine fever spread through the air?
1. Can swine fever spread through the air?
Swine fever can spread through the air. When infection occurs through the air, the virus mainly enters the pig's body through the mouth and upper respiratory tract system, causing infection in the nasopharynx or tonsils, and the virus rapidly spreads to the submandibular lymph nodes, then throughout the body via the lymphatic system and blood.
1. Vector-borne transmission: African swine fever virus can be spread by ticks, mosquitoes, horseflies, stable flies and others, and the African swine fever virus can reproduce within certain insects and remain active for a long time.
2. Transmission by infected domestic pigs and wild boars: it can spread through fresh meat products, blood and semen, and under certain specific conditions it can survive for 4--6 years, and it can also spread through cured meat, ham, and the feces of infected pigs.
3. In addition, after an outbreak occurs among farmers, feed contaminated by the virus, blood-based feed, swill contaminated by the virus, water sources, equipment, clothing worn by farm workers, and the air near contaminated farms are all potential sources of infection.
2. What should be done when swine fever occurs?
After an outbreak occurs on a farm, if the farmer has not reported it and has not carried out relevant virus prevention measures, and the pens have not been strictly disinfected, it is possible that nearby farms may be infected through airborne transmission. Everyone must pay attention to this, stay vigilant, and do a good job of prevention.
According to the notice issued by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs on January 24, 2019, on printing and distributing the new edition of the "Emergency Implementation Plan for African Swine Fever Outbreaks," regarding the disinfection specifications for African swine fever, the provisions on the types of disinfection products state: the most effective disinfection products are 10% benzene and phenol, hypochlorous acid, strong alkalis and glutaraldehyde. Therefore, choosing suitable disinfection products to prevent and control African swine fever is crucial. The Huisheng Biological product "Tong" has active ingredients: glutaraldehyde 5%, didecyldimethylammonium bromide 5%. It is a highly effective disinfectant, and after strict evaluation and certification, it is effective against porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus, porcine epidemic diarrhea virus, African swine fever virus and others. The above drug can not only kill viruses on the ground and on equipment, but can also kill viruses in the air, and it is safe and reliable.
Under the current circumstances, if it is an open-style farm, safety is still not guaranteed. We can use bamboo poles, trellises, plastic sheeting and so on to enclose it, which is more conducive to disinfection and avoids the intrusion of external viruses. In order to avoid deterioration of air quality inside the farm, intake and exhaust devices can be installed, and the air inlet should be filtered in multiple layers as much as possible, replaced and disinfected frequently, and the air quality should be kept as fresh as possible.
Because there is currently no effective therapeutic vaccine for African swine fever virus, prevention is still the main approach. After the outbreak of African swine fever in our country, the state issued a series of requirements and also provided farmers with a series of prevention and control plans. As long as everyone strictly implements them according to the plans and usually pays more attention to some details, the occurrence of outbreaks can be effectively avoided.
In daily life, if you find that a nearby farm is secretly transporting pigs that died from unknown causes, report it to the relevant departments in a timely manner while ensuring your own safety, so as to avoid further spread of the outbreak.
Even if an outbreak occurs on a farm near your own, farmers do not need to worry too much. According to the newly issued prevention and control plan of our country, for farmers within a three-kilometer range of the farm where the outbreak occurs, as long as the pigs have not been infected, they may not be subject to compulsory culling. It will not be like before, where if one farm had an outbreak, all farmers within a three-kilometer range were implicated.
If swine fever is discovered, it must be reported in a timely manner, and treatment work must be done well to ensure the safety of the farm.