African swine fever kills nearly 30,000 pigs in Indonesia

Dec 24, 2019

Tens of thousands of pigs have died from African swine fever in Indonesia's North Sumatra province, officials said Thursday, the first time the virus has been detected in the country.

The disease has devastated swine herds in China and elsewhere in Asia, and initially Indonesia authorities put the death of 27,000 pigs down to hog cholera—a different virus with similar symptoms.

But Fadjar Sumping Tjatur Rasa, an official at Indonesia's Ministry of Agriculture, told AFP that laboratory tests had recorded evidence of African swine fever in 16 regencies and cities in North Sumatra.

"It had never (before) occurred in Indonesia," he added.

While the virus cannot be transmitted to humans, it is almost 100 percent fatal in pigs.

Although Indonesia is the world's most populous Muslim nation—and eating pork is forbidden by the Koran—the country also boasts a small Christian majority in North Sumatra, and Bali is a Hindu island whose signature dish is roast pig.

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