Agartala, Jul 26, 2022, By Special Correspondent

Agartala , Jul 26: After certain northeastern states like Tripura, Assam and Mizoram reported cases of African Swine Fever, 20 pigs died of ASF in Bareilly district of Uttar Pradesh, prompting authorities on Tuesday to ban pig markets and sale of pork.

Though humans are not at a risk of getting infected, District Magistrate Shivakant Dwivedi passed the order following a report by the chief veterinary officer.

Dwivedi said ASF is highly contagious and fatal in pigs and added the ban has been enforced to prevent its spread.

The first case of ASF was reported in Bareilly on July 20 as the Indian Veterinary Research Institute (IVRI) had confirmed the death of pigs at a farm due to the disease.

The reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) from their samples had confirmed the disease and the IVRI had sought a detailed report from the chief veterinary officer.

Dr K P Singh, Joint Director of IVRI, Bareilly, said recently pigs in the farm owned by one Dr Anil Kumar, resident of Bhadsar Dandiya village of Nawabganj tehsil here, had high fever. Despite treatment, they stopped eating and later died.

Kumar had sent samples from the dead pigs to IVRI, which confirmed ASF. Following this, the administration sent a team to the village to check for the infection in other pigs.

The chief veterinary officer was also asked to issue an advisory on behalf of the IVRI. 

Accordingly, one-kilometre area where the ASF was confirmed in Faridpur, was declared an infected zone, Singh said.

IVRI is also in the process of bringing out a vaccine for this disease, he said.

ASF was first reported in Africa in 1920.