On July 16, information from the Department of Agriculture and Environment of Thai Nguyen province said that since the beginning of July, African swine fever has appeared in many localities in the province.
According to statistics in 18 communes and wards, the total number of infected pigs forced to be destroyed is 384, with a total weight of over 18 tons.
Samples of the epidemics at some outbreaks tested positive for African swine fever virus.
Previously, from the beginning of the year to the end of June 2025, a number of small outbreaks also occurred in 37 communes in the northern part of the province, affecting the pigs of 17 households in 11 villages and hamlets in 7 communes.
The total number of pigs infected, dead, or destroyed during this period was 104, weighing more than 3 tons.
According to the assessment of the professional agency, the risk of the epidemic spreading is very high and most of them are still small-scale livestock farming in households, and the conditions for barns not to ensure quarantine and veterinary hygiene are still limited.
Vaccination is also not high, especially not ensuring immunity to some dangerous diseases such as foot-and-mouth disease and green ears.
Another difficulty is the shortage of grassroots veterinary forces. After the merger, many collaborators and veterinarians have quit their jobs, causing difficulties for disease monitoring and supervision forces in scattered livestock households.
Investigation, updating the situation, taking samples for testing and handling outbreaks have therefore encountered many difficulties.
Faced with the above situation, Thai Nguyen province has issued a document requesting the proactive implementation of epidemic prevention measures.
The provincial Department of Agriculture and Environment has established 2 working groups, with a total of 73 highly qualified staff, directly going to localities to inspect and support the handling of the outbreak.
The provincial Department of Animal Husbandry, Veterinary Medicine and Fisheries has also issued an official dispatch requesting to strengthen inspection and supervision of the destruction and handling of animal carcasses, preventing the situation of throwing pig carcasses into the environment.
The People's Committees of communes and wards have established an Steering Committee for epidemic prevention and control, assigning specific tasks to each member.
The authorities also tightened inspection of transportation, slaughter, and trading of pigs and pig products.
People are propagandized to strictly implement the "5 no's" principle in epidemic prevention: do not hide epidemics, do not slaughter sick pigs, do not buy and sell sick pigs, do not dump pork carcass and do not use untreated excess feed.
Chairmen of People's Committees of communes and wards are directly responsible if the epidemic spreads due to subjectivity and negligence in direction.
If there are no measures to completely handle each outbreak soon, there will be a potential risk of spreading, directly affecting disease production and safety in the area.
