GIFU, Sept. 16 ― The Gifu prefectural government said on Sept. 15 that the carcass of a wild boar found in Gifu city in earlier September was tested positive for classical swine fever, also known as hog cholera.
The announced came as the National Agriculture and Food Research Organization (NARO) confirmed swine fever virus in the final analysis.
The swine fever is unrelated to the African swine fever that has broken out in China and other countries in Easter Europe.
Swine fever occurs among pigs and wild boar and is not infectious to humans, but it can be devastating the pork industry because pork sales would be severely disrupted.
The carcass of the wild boar was found about 7-8 km from a pig farm in Gifu city, where the country’s first case of swine fever virus had been reported in 26 years.
It is yet unknown how the outbreak of the disease started, but the NARO suspects it is likely the virus came from abroad.
The agriculture ministry set up a task force on Sept. 9 to contain the virus as soon as possible and prevent it from spreading further.