GIFU, Sept. 11 – The Gifu Prefectural Government announced on Sept. 9 that it has confirmed the nation’s first case of swine fever in 26 years at a farm in the city of Gifu.
The culling and burying of 610 hogs at the farm were completed in the early morning of Sept. 10, and the place was decontaminated and disinfected by Sept. 11, the government said.
It is yet unknown how the outbreak of the disease, also known as hog cholera, started.
It differs from African swine fever which has been reported recently in China. Both diseases cannot infect humans and people are not affected even if meat from an infected animal is consumed.
The agriculture ministry set up a task force led by agriculture minister Ken Saito on Sept. 9 to contain the virus as soon as possible and prevent it from spreading further.