BANGKOK, Jan 11 (TNA) – The Department of Livestock Development has detected the African swine fever (ASF) in a sample collected from a slaughterhouse in Nakhon Pathom province and is looking for the source of the disease.
Sorawit Thaneeto, director-general of the department, said that it collected 309 samples of pig blood and surface swabs at farms and slaughterhouses in Ratchaburi and Nakhon Pathom over the past weekend for tests for ASF.
The department’s National Institute of Animal Health tested the samples and found one of them which was collected at a slaughterhouse in Nakhon Pathom had ASF. Officials concerned were checking the sources of pigs sent to the slaughterhouse, he said.
After locating the pig farm that could be the source of the disease, the department would consider where pig transport should be banned or pig culls should happen. The director-general said pig raisers should not panic because the department would not impose an across-the-board order for the transport ban or pig culls.
Disease investigation would be thorough so that the control measures could be localized, Mr Sorawit said.
Meanwhile, the Cabinet on Tuesday approved 574 million baht to compensate small-scale pig raisers in 56 provinces after their pigs had been culled between March 23 – Oct 15 in 2021 to prevent African swine fever and other viral pig diseases, said government spokesman Thanakorn Wangboonkongchana.
More than 159,000 pigs were culled last year and nearly 5,000 pig farmers have not received compensation for the culling of their lost livestock. (TNA)
