Officials of the Veterinary Services have started slaughtering pigs that have been affected by African swine fever in the latest outbreak in the Ashanti and Upper East regions.

At the Kasenna Nankana West and Garu district, Vets officers say they are battling with the fever.

According to Joy News’ Albert Sore, a few farmers in the district have been advised to kill the pigs to stop the disease from spreading to other animals on the farm.

The reporter said so far, the Vets officers have not been able to tell how many pigs have been affected in the region but they say working at prevention will help.

He said, it was a struggle convincing the farmers who were reluctant to slaughter and bury their animals, which they count as a loss. However, they later complied to save their farm and other animals.

The Regional Veterinary Officer, Dr Patrick Abakey, said so far they have identified some four districts which are worse affected and have worked to contain its spreading.

“We have placed a ban on movement of pigs and its products within the districts and across regions to stop the disease from spreading.

“We also have the monitoring and education of farmers about symptoms for early detection and study,” he told Gifty Andoh Appiah on the Pulse programme Wednesday.

He suspects the disease started spreading from across the country’s border with Burkina Faso which he describes as porous.

African swine fever virus (ASFV) is the causative agent of African swine fever (ASF). The virus causes a haemorrhagic fever with high mortality rates in pigs.

The virus causes a lethal haemorraghic disease in domestic pigs. Some isolates can cause the death of animals within as quickly as a week after infection. In all other species, the virus causes no obvious disease.

The Acting Veterinary Services Director Dr Kenneth Gbedeh said they are yet to determine the category of the ASF the current outbreak is. 

He said the disease which has assumed an annual nature affected parts of the Greater Accra, Volta, Ashanti as well as the Upper East regions in May last year.

Eating pork

People in the region are apprehensive in consuming pork and its related products in the region although it has been established that the disease cannot be transferred to humans.

In the Ashanti Region, the Regional Veterinary Officer, Dr Emmanuel Edward Effah told Luv FM’s Prince Appiah emphasised that there is no specific treatment with any vaccine but to slaughter the pigs. 

He said they advised the farmers about allowing them to decouple and do a proper disinfection to prevent further spread of the disease.