African Swine Fever

In News: The district administration of Damoh in Madhya Pradesh has killed 700 pigs in the last two days amid fear of African Swine Fever in the area, news agency ANI reported.

• Hundreds of animals including cows, bulls and pigs were found dead in the district’s Banawar area within a week.
• In 2021, the northeaster states of Nagaland, Mizoram and Manipur were swept by the disease.
• In December 2022, cases were confirmed in Kerala, Assam and Manipur.

African Swine Fever:

• It is a highly contagious viral disease that attacks pigs and boars
• It is endemic to sub-Saharan Africa but has spread to many other regions of the world, including Asia and Europe.
• It has a high mortality rate.
• It is not known to affect human beings.
• There is no cure or precaution available for the infection yet.
• It can interfere with various cellular signalling pathways resulting in immunomodulation, thus making the development of an efficacious vaccine very challenging.
• In the acute form pigs develop a high temperature (40.5 degrees C or 105 degrees F), then become dull and go off their food. Other symptoms may include vomiting, diarrhoea (sometimes bloody), laboured breathing and coughing, abortion, still births and weak litters and unwillingness to stand.

Miscellaneous:

• Humans can be infected with avian, swine and other zoonotic influenza viruses, such as avian influenza virus subtypes A(H5N1), A(H7N9), and A(H9N2) and swine influenza virus subtypes A(H1N1), A(H1N2) and A(H3N2).
• Human infections are primarily acquired through direct contact with infected animals or contaminated environments, these viruses have not acquired the ability of sustained transmission among humans.

Source DTE

Previous Year Question

Q.1) H1N1 virus is sometimes mentioned in the news with reference to which one of the following diseases?  (2015)

1. AIDS
2. Bird flu
3. Dengue
4. Swine flu