Following an outbreak of swine flu, the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform, and Rural Development yesterday announced its move to place farms in Gauteng, North West, and the Free State under precautionary quarantine.
Department spokesperson, Reggie Ngcobo, said after the first case was detected in Gauteng, the provincial Veterinary Services had launched an investigation to identify any properties that could have had direct or indirect contact with the affected farm.
“Farms in Gauteng, North West, and Free State Provinces have been placed under precautionary quarantine as a result of this. The ASF-negative status of these farms will be confirmed before the precautionary quarantine can be lifted. The source of the infection on the positive farm has not yet been identified but is it believed that the infection was already on the farm since mid-December. This outbreak of ASF on a farm with good biosecurity measures in place again illustrates that the virus is highly contagious,” Ngcobo said.
He urged farmers to buy pigs only from recognized healthy herds.
“All pig farmers and pig keepers are again urged to only buy pigs directly from known healthy herds and to prevent contact between their pigs and other pigs or wildlife. Visitors should be discouraged from coming into the area where pigs are being kept.
Anyone who has contact with pigs should wash their hands before and after handling the pigs; and before moving to other farms, one should ensure that they have thoroughly showered and to only use clean clothes, shoes and equipment,” he said.
Ngcobo said the swine flu outbreak in the country started in 2019, but slowed down, with fewer new properties becoming infected since October 2022.
“Outbreaks of African Swine Fever (ASF) started in the previous ASF-free areas of South Africa in 2019 and these outbreaks eventually affected many areas of the country. The spread of the disease seems to have slowed down, with fewer new properties becoming infected since October 2022.
“Control measures are based on quarantine and movement controls, with awareness, drives to highlight essential biosecurity measures to enable pig owners to prevent infection of their pigs. Anyone who has contact with pigs should wash their hands before and after handling the pigs; and before moving to other farms, one should ensure that they have thoroughly showered and only use clean clothes, shoes, and equipment. ASF is a controlled disease in terms of the Animal Diseases Act, 1984 (Act 35 of 1984), which means that all cases or suspicion of ASF must be reported to the state veterinary services,” said Ngcobo.
