After the first case of swine fever in America in more than 40 years was detected at the end of July. In Yucatán, this virus set off the alert, as it could devastate pork production.
Case of swine fever, a problem for public health
According to National Institute of Statistics, Geography and Informatics (INEGI). The production of pork in Yucatan amounts to more than 2,200 thousand heads a year.
Likewise, the pork industry in Yucatán generates 10,215 direct jobs and more than 35,000 indirect ones. And an increase of 30 percent in these items is estimated in the next two years.
The fear of the health authorities in Mexico is that the first cases were detected in the Dominican Republic, a country that exports to Mexico. Therefore, the disease could bring infected products transported by international travelers into the country.
What is swine fever?
Classical swine fever, also known as swine cholera, is a contagious viral disease of domestic and wild pigs. It is caused by a virus of the Pestivirus genus of the Flaviviridae family, closely related to the viruses that cause bovine viral diarrhea in cattle and border disease in sheep.
There is only one serotype of classical swine fever virus; The disease is listed in the Terrestrial Animal Health Code of the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) and is notifiable to the OIE (OIE Terrestrial Animal Health Code).
Transmission and propagation
The epidemiology of African swine fever is complex and varies depending on the environment, the type of production system. The presence or absence of transmission vector ticks, human behavior, and the presence or absence of wild pigs.
Transmission routes can include:
- Direct contact with pigs, domestic or wild, infected.
- Indirect contact, through ingestion of contaminated material (for example, food, feed or waste residues).
- Contaminated fomites or biological vectors (soft ticks of the genus Ornithodoros).
Clinical signs
The acute form of the disease is characterized by high fever, depression, anorexia and loss of appetite, haemorrhage (reddening of the skin on the ears, abdomen and feet), miscarriages in pregnant sows, cyanosis, vomiting, diarrhea and eventual death. 6-13 days (or up to 20 days). The mortality rate can reach 100%.
The subacute and chronic forms of the disease are caused by moderate or less virulent viruses, which produce less intense clinical signs that can manifest for longer periods of time.
Mortality rates are lower, but can range from 30 to 70%. Symptoms of chronic disease include weight loss, intermittent fever, breathing problems, chronic skin ulcerations, and arthritis.
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