Disease is a complex problem for Chinese farmers, but the veterinary medicine system is nowhere near adequate With pig carcasses floating down the Huangpu and a new outbreak of bird flu, attention is being focused on Shaoxing. The city is the major pig-farming centre for eastern China, raising 7 million pigs a year. It also [...]

Last week, the Ministry of Agriculture in China dispatched two teams to Zhejiang and Shanghai respectively to supervise and coordinate local efforts of handling the dead pigs found in the Huangpu River. On March 16th, MOA Chief Veterinary Officer Yu Kangzhen, who was the head of the team to Zhejiang, received an interview by local [...]

Feral pigs screened by the North Carolina State University tested positive for the Brucella suis bacteria, the first time that the disease has been identified in feral pigs in the state. The study aimed to test pigs in North Carolina for several types of bacteria and viruses between September 2007 and March 2010. Around 9% [...]

German scientists have identified a link between prevalance of a deadly strain of salmonella, monophasic salmonella typhimurium, and pigs. Overuse of antibiotics in feed is thought to be a major factor in the strain’s resistance. The multiresistant superbug is transmissable to humans through contact and through consumption. For the full report and measures being taken to contain the spread, please read more.

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Pfizer Animal Health announced that the FDA has approved Improvest (gonadotropin releasing factor-diphtheria toxoid conjugate) for temporary immunological castration and reduction of boar taint in intact male pigs intended for pork. The technology is approved in 58 other countries around the world under the related global brand, Improvac. www.pfizer.com

Humans are the main cause of tranmitting African Swine Fever, according to Russian virologist Alexei Zaberezhny from the Ivanovsky Institute in Moscow. Zaberezhny spoke at the Epizone symposium on disease control, which takes place from April 12-14 in Arnhem, the Netherlands. Together with Spanish scientists, Zaberezhny studied the spreading behaviour of the virus in Russia [...]

Merck and sanofi-aventis announced today the mutual termination of their agreement to form a new animal health joint venture by combining Merial, the animal health business of sanofi-aventis, with Intervet/Schering-Plough, Merck’s animal health unit. As a result, each party will keep its current, separate animal health assets and businesses. Since the initial announcement about the [...]

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The recent Foot-and-Mouth (FMD) outbreak in South Korea has caused one third of the country’s pig herd to be destroyed, delegates at the fifth APVS Congress were told. The outbreak was first notified in the end of November 2010, after which the whole country rapidly got infected. This latest FMD outbreak was discussed in several [...]

In the North of Spain, six people have been infected with trichinellosis. One of the people died. The people – from 52 to 58 years old – have been contaminated by eating meat of a wild boar that they had shot themselves. The meat is under investigation. Trichinellosis is a disease that comes from eating [...]