By Karen Breytenbach
The first outbreak of Classical or European swine fever, also known as hog cholera, here since 1918 has led to two pig farms and two informal settlements in the Hex River Valley being placed under quarantine.
Police have set up two roadblocks in the area to contain the movement of pigs and products. Since the department of agriculture detected the outbreak last week, 700 pigs have died on the two farms and 50 in the informal settlements.
Symptoms include fever, lethargy, haemorrhagic skin lesions, convulsions and vomiting. Since last week, the Western Cape Veterinary Services had shot, disinfected and buried 1 200 more pigs on the two farms, said Gideon Bröckner, director of veterinary services. The state would compensate the farmers for their losses, he said.
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The piggeries affected would be thoroughly disinfected and no pigs or pork products would be allowed to enter or leave the area over the next four weeks.
No people who had been in the affected areas would be allowed to leave before their clothing and vehicles had been thoroughly disinfected.
Police, traffic department and disaster management staff would check vehicles for pig products, on the road between De Doorns and Touws River and outside Worcester on the N1, until at least the end of next week, said Bröckner.
The fever can be spread by contact between humans, animals, insects, vehicles, clothing and waste food, but has a detrimental effect only on pigs.
"We have implemented strict bio-security measures. We are doing everything in our power to prevent the fever from spreading to other farms," said Bröckner.
Agriculture department national spokesperson Steve Galane said a routine survey was conducted with the South African Pig Producers Organisation, and no indication of the disease was found anywhere except in the Worcester area.
He said it was crucial to follow all procedures according to international standards, as the further spread could be detrimental to the export of pork and other pig products.
Galane said the department was still awaiting a confirmed diagnosis from an international reference laboratory in the United Kingdom.
"We conducted serological tests and samples were sent to the UK last week. We ought to have the results by Friday," he said.
Pork is South Africa's third most popular meat after chicken and beef.
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This article was originally published on page 1 of Cape Times on July 14, 2005
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