The African Swine Fever

The African Swine Fever(ASF) is a highly contagious viral disease that affect only pigs, boars,
warthogs, and bush pigs. The African Swine fever is present in several areas in Europe that caused
the deaths of pigs, several countries that das cases of deaths of ASF are: Poland, Czech Republic,
Belgium, Hungary, Bulgaria, Latvia, Ukraine, Romania, Moldova, Russia, China, Zambia and South
Africa.
According to the Department of Agriculture that the ASF virus will not be transmitted to humans because
it is not contagious even if we eat meat or processed pork that has a ASF virus. The ASF virus is not
considered as a human health threat. However, humans can become a carrier of the virus once they
have been ingested or if people get close to the infected meat. According to Food Drug Administration
(FDA) that they refrain overseas worker to bring meat or imported pork from those ASF affected
countries that can cause devastating effect of the virus once it get into our country. As Cebu City,
Philippine, Cebu Governor Gwen Garcia ordered a complete ban on live hog that imports from Luzon
after it was confirmed that ASF was present in different areas in Rizal and Bulacan. It is said that they
were only banning live hog from Luzon as they consider that there might be a shortage of pork if they
going to ban all imported pork.
The transmission of the virus cause by a direct contact of pig, it means one pig to another that had
contact, also the possibility of flies when an infected pig get bitten by the flies and go to another farm
to bite another animal, that means, the bitten pig got infected of the virus, to know if the pigs is infected,
the following symptoms are: lost of appetite, fever, bruises or redness all over the body and internal
bleeding. The infected animal has a higher risk to die if got infected for two to ten days, it is dangerous
because it reach 100% of mortality of the pig. There hasn’t been a vaccine that can cure or stop the
virus to speed.
The ASF get into the Philippines by the imported meat, pork and other processed food from the affected
areas of Europe, so it is important to take care of our pigs to avoid the ASF that to be aware of different
imported meat and processed pork that came from different countries that are affected with the virus.

This has caused clamor among Filipinos. Students of Tubod National High School were also taught on