How many days do pigs generally take to die after contracting African swine fever?

As is well known, African swine fever is an acute and highly contagious disease. If one pig in a pig farm contracts African swine fever, then the entire pig farm may end up with not a single pig left. So how many days does it generally take for pigs to die from African swine fever?

1. What is African swine fever?

African swine fever is an acute swine disease caused by the African swine fever virus. Both its contagiousness and mortality rate are very high, with the mortality rate reaching as high as 100%.

The main transmission vector of African swine fever is soft ticks. Generally, infected sows die first, then other pigs, and finally piglets.

Clinical manifestations include fever, difficulty breathing, and rapid heartbeat. The eyes and nose of pigs have serous or mucopurulent discharge, the skin becomes cyanotic, and the lymph nodes, kidneys, and gastrointestinal mucosa bleed noticeably. The clinical symptoms of African swine fever closely resemble those of classical swine fever, and diagnosis can only be confirmed through laboratory monitoring.

2. How many days does it generally take for pigs to die from African swine fever?

After a pig herd contracts African swine fever, they generally die within 10-15 days. African swine fever has a natural infection incubation period of 5-9 days. When the disease onset occurs, body temperature rises to 41°C. Generally, death occurs on the 7th day after fever begins, and in severe cases, death occurs within 1 or 2 days.

3. How to prevent African swine fever?

1. Entry and exit of pig farm workers, transport vehicles, and susceptible animals need to be strictly controlled. Strict disinfection should be carried out when entering and leaving the farm to avoid carrying the virus and causing an outbreak on the pig farm.

2. Food scraps and swill cannot be used to feed pigs, as this also makes them prone to contracting African swine fever;

3. Once an African swine fever outbreak occurs, all live pigs must be promptly culled and buried deep.