Jalgaon pigs died of swine fever not flu, says minister
7 May 2009, 0346 hrs IST, Prafulla Marpakwar, TNN
MUMBAI: Dairy development and animal husbandry minister Raviseth Patil on Tuesday said that the death of pigs in a section of villages in Jalgaon
district was from swine fever, a result of high temperatures.
"There is no reason to worry. Don't confuse swine flu with swine fever. No case of swine flu has been reported anywhere, as such there should be no cause for panic. Very high temperatures in the region resulted in their death,'' Patil said.
Panic spread in north Maharashtra following the sudden death of a large number of pigs, prompting the authorities to take action. The Centre has also asked the state government to conduct a thorough investigation into the deaths. "We have sent officials of the animal husbandry department to Jalgaon to collect samples for investigation,'' a senior official said.
The samples were sent to the state's disease investigation section as well as Bareilly-based (UP) Indian veterinary research institute. "We have investigated each case. A preliminary probe has revealed that the pigs and goats died of swine fever, which is caused by high temperatures,'' the official said.
According to him, following reports of the death of a large number of pigs, people all over the state panicked as they assumed the casualties were the result of swine flu. "As quite a large number of countries had reported cases of swine flu, it was assumed that there was an outbreak of the disease even in parts of Maharashtra. Our investigations have confirmed that the deaths were from swine fever and the reports of swine flu were baseless,'' he said.
The official added that swine fever is a highly infectious disease of pigs characterised by acute\chronic illness. "Usually, the mortality rate is over 90% whereas in the case of swine influenza, the mortality rate ranges between five and 10%.''
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...not-flu-says-minister/articleshow/4493131.cms
7 May 2009, 0346 hrs IST, Prafulla Marpakwar, TNN
MUMBAI: Dairy development and animal husbandry minister Raviseth Patil on Tuesday said that the death of pigs in a section of villages in Jalgaon
district was from swine fever, a result of high temperatures.
"There is no reason to worry. Don't confuse swine flu with swine fever. No case of swine flu has been reported anywhere, as such there should be no cause for panic. Very high temperatures in the region resulted in their death,'' Patil said.
Panic spread in north Maharashtra following the sudden death of a large number of pigs, prompting the authorities to take action. The Centre has also asked the state government to conduct a thorough investigation into the deaths. "We have sent officials of the animal husbandry department to Jalgaon to collect samples for investigation,'' a senior official said.
The samples were sent to the state's disease investigation section as well as Bareilly-based (UP) Indian veterinary research institute. "We have investigated each case. A preliminary probe has revealed that the pigs and goats died of swine fever, which is caused by high temperatures,'' the official said.
According to him, following reports of the death of a large number of pigs, people all over the state panicked as they assumed the casualties were the result of swine flu. "As quite a large number of countries had reported cases of swine flu, it was assumed that there was an outbreak of the disease even in parts of Maharashtra. Our investigations have confirmed that the deaths were from swine fever and the reports of swine flu were baseless,'' he said.
The official added that swine fever is a highly infectious disease of pigs characterised by acute\chronic illness. "Usually, the mortality rate is over 90% whereas in the case of swine influenza, the mortality rate ranges between five and 10%.''
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...not-flu-says-minister/articleshow/4493131.cms