CSF found in Lower Thai North

SUKHOTHAI, THAILAND, July 20 (TNA) - Nearly 30 pigs have died from an outbreak of the Classical Swine Fever (CSF) at a farm in Sukhothai Province in the Lower Thai North. The open pig farm in Moo 6 village of Baan Loom Sub-district of Sukhothai's Muang District has lost 27 pigs in less than a week due to the spreading CSF, also known as Hog Cholera, prompting the provincial livestock development office to declare the area a temporary animal epidemic zone to contain the CSF outbreak. The owner of the farm told reporters that he recently bought 68 Large White piglets to add to his farm, but the animals later showed signs of sickness, as they ate less and became dull, and two of them first died in one day. Local livestock authorities then reported on more 25 irregular deaths of pigs at the farm and an official probe found they were infected with CSF and Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome (PRRSV). The authorities, thus, ordered the owner of the pig farm to spray disinfectants at the pig farm and quarantine the remaining animals to observe their conditions. The local livestock authorities also declared Moo 6 village of Sukhothai's Baan Loom Sub-district a temporary animal epidemic zone, where movements of swines within a one-kilometre radius of the CSF-hit farm is controlled and conditions of sick swines within a five-kilometre radius of the CSF-affected farm are closely monitored until August 13, 2015. (TNA)