Africa swine fever outbreak recorded in Western Region
- Posted on
- Comment
Africa swine fever (ASF) outbreak has been recorded in the Western Region, raising fears of a possible threat to government’s Rearing for Food and Jobs programme in the region.
Clinical tests conducted on pig carcasses in the Sekondi Takoradi Metropolis and the Effia-Kwesimentsim Municipality found the presence the virus which is the causative agent of African swine fever in the domestic pigs.
The ASF virus causes a haemorrhagic fever with high mortality rates in domestic pigs, but expert say it is not a threat to human health as it does not infect humans.
A statement issued by the Western Regional Directorate of Agriculture said “samples of dead pigs (carcasses) sent to the National Veterinary Laboratory for analysis has confirmed positive” of ASF.
Under the Rearing for Food and Jobs, government provided pigs to the Western Region, but on the back of the Africa swine fever outbreak, the Directorate has appealed for a replacement of the pigs with sheep and goats.
It explained “it will take a long time to eradicate the disease”.
By Eric Yaw Adjei
ABOUT: Nana Kwesi Coomson
[email protected] An Entrepreneur, Corporate Social Responsibility, Corporate Communications Executive and Philanthropist. Editor-in-Chief of www.233times.com. A Senior Journalist with Ghanaian Chronicle Newspaper. An alumnus of Adisadel College where he read General Arts. His first degree is in Bachelor of Arts - Political Science (major) and History (minor) from the University of Ghana. He holds MSc in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Energy with Public Relations (PR) from the Robert Gordon University in the United Kingdom. He is a 2018 Mandela Washington Fellow who studied at Clark Atlanta University in USA on the Business and Entrepreneurship track.
View all posts by: Nana Kwesi Coomson
(Selorm) | 
(Nana Kwesi)