Discussion held on swine fever

THE primary drivers that spread African swine fever (ASF) are people transporting pigs or wild boars, carriers and/or animals moving from one place to another.
Dr Hendrik Camphor, a specialist in swine fever, said this during a discussion on ASF in Lae last Wednesday, adding that businesses needed to be more aware about where their imports were coming from and how safe they were.
Camphor, along with other experts from the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), sat down with Lae businesses involved in the supply of pig meat to discuss more about ASF.
FAO PNG country office head of programme Mirriam Mondiai said the team had held similar discussions in the Highlands due to the region’s large population of pigs, from individuals to small holder farmers, and decided to come to Lae because the city was more commercialised and was home to a number of farms and meat suppliers.
Mondiai said many countries had already experienced ASF outbreaks and PNG should be alert and prepared if the disease arrived.
The Lae meeting, headed by the National Agriculture Inspection Authority (Naqia), was also told that ASF could only be spread to pigs or wild boars and not humans or other animals.
“The swine fever can’t affect other animals,” Camphor said.
“It will only affect pigs and wild boars, no other animals.
“It cannot be passed on to humans either. There is no evidence that it infects humans.
“People can consume the infected meat but it will not affect them.”
The FAO team, who are from head office in Rome, are in the country upon request from Naqia.