Huambo — The Institute of Veterinary Services (ISV) recently decreed a 60-day ban on the entry and exit of pigs in the province of Huambo due to an outbreak of African swine fever.

Maria Simão Chiumbo, the local head of the ISV's technical section, said that pork products are prohibited in formal and informal markets in this region of the country.

At the conclusion of the first ordinary session of the provincial government, Chiumbo stated that all containment measures must be adhered to in order to lift the sanitary cordon within 60 days.

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Chiumbo said work is underway to identify additional cases of African swine fever on various farms in the province. This follows the discovery of several cases in animals that were already slaughtered this month in the Calima commune and the Dango area of the Huambo municipality.

She asked breeders with problems or suspicions of an outbreak on their farms to notify the ISV to enable rapid containment. Awareness campaigns are being held among breeders and in formal and informal markets to prevent the sale of this meat.

Mavilde Pires, the head of the central veterinary laboratory of the Veterinary Research Institute (IIV), said that African swine fever was quickly identified and reported to the ISV, which took appropriate sanitary response measures.

Pires indicated that there is high demand from breeders in southern Angola for identifying diseases on their farms without waiting for periodic screening by the IIV.

African swine fever is a highly contagious hemorrhagic disease affecting domestic and wild pigs. It causes serious economic and productive losses and requires mandatory reporting.

Prevention depends on adopting biosecurity measures to prevent infected animals and their products from entering plague-free areas. ZZN/ALH/AMP