Two farms at Mananthavady in Kerala's Wayanad district have reported African swine fever, confirmed officials on Friday.
The disease was confirmed among pigs of the two farms after the samples were tested at the National Institute of High Security Animal Diseases in Bhopal.
The samples were sent for testing after a sounder of pigs died, revealed an official from the Animal Husbandry Department.
The official further stated that now that the test result has confirmed the infection, directions have been issued to cull 300 pigs of the second farm.
The the Animal Husbandry Department is taking steps are being taken to prevent the disease from being spread, said the official.
Earlier this month, following an alert from the Centre that African swine fever has been reported in Bihar and a few northeastern states, Kerala had tightened bio-security measures.
Last week, Assam's Dibrugarh also reported the viral disease after a pig in Bhogali Pathar village tested positive for the virus. Following this, culling of pigs began in the area where India registered its first case of African swine fever.
Recently, Uttarakhand had also logged cases of African swine fever. As the state detected a case of African swine fever, the state government urged its residents to avoid having pork for at least the next one week.
Over the last week, authorities were alerted to around 200 pig deaths in cities like Dehradun, Kotdwar, Chamoli and Muni ki Reti (in Tehri Garhwal district) due to the African swine fever.
The Mizoram government had also killed more than 37,000 pigs after the state also detected the African swine fever virus.
African swine fever is a highly contagious and fatal viral disease affecting domestic pigs. Highly contagious and deadly for pigs, the African swine fever virus doesn't spread to humans.
According to World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH), the virus is highly resistant in the environment, meaning that it can survive on clothes, boots, wheels, and other materials. It can also survive in various pork products, such as ham, sausages or bacon. Therefore, human behaviours can play an important role in spreading this pig disease across borders if adequate measures are not taken.
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