Experts explain China's mystery pig disease

May 9 2007

According to media reports a mysterious disease has killed thousands of pigs in China's southern Guangdong province.

Chinese epidemiologists say the mysterious illness is an infectious disease commonly known as "blue ear disease".

Blue ear disease is thought to have been responsible for the deaths of more than 300 pigs in April; the pigs on a farm in Silao apparently stopped eating, developed fevers and started hemorrhaging.

Chinese authorities have since disinfected the affected farms, markets and abattoirs, but the disease has since spread to nearby towns.

The cause of the disease is unknown and it is thought carcasses thrown into rivers may have been responsible for the spread of the disease to the surrounding areas.

Some reports suggest as many as 3,000 animals may be affected and heavy financial losses incurred by some farmers; some have reportedly already sold sick pigs at reduced prices.

According to government sources, the infected pigs were raised by individual rural farmers rather than industrialized pig farms and were not exported to Hong Kong or overseas markets.

Chinese authorities say an effective vaccine has already been developed and a vaccination program will begin soon for pigs in Guangdong province.

According to the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) blue ear disease or porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS) was first identified in the United States in 1987.

It first appeared in China in the mid-1990s and the latest outbreak is thought to be the result of a new mutation.

Although the cause of the disease is unknown experts have dismissed the possibility of people contracting the disease.

Major roads in and out of the town have reportedly been sterilized and the sale of pigs in the infected area has been banned.