Don’t underestimate effects of ASF disease, says association

KOTA KINABALU: The Wise Consumers Association Sabah (WCAS) has expressed concern over the devastating effects of the African Swine Fever (ASF) outbreak.

Its president, David Chan said failure to immediately stop the spread of the virus will further aggravate the misfortune of Sabahans caused by the yearlong Covid-19 pandemic.

Although ASF does not threaten consumption of pork by human beings, the virus will cause possible severe shortage of pigs resulting in steep price hike in the local market, he said.

“Prices of pork and pork products are likely to see steep increase if the ASF outbreak is not be properly addressed immediately,” he said.

David cautioned the government and rakyat, particularly local hog raisers, not to underestimate the devastation that could be wrought by ASF.

“There is indeed a dire need for the government, farmers and rakyat to work closely to stop any further spread of ASF in the shortest time.

“ASF virus is a large, doublestranded DNA virus in the Asfarviridae family.

“It (virus) causes a hemorrhagic fever with high mortality rates in domestic pigs and can cause death of animals as quickly as a week after infection.”

David said it is important for the relevant authorities to properly educate the consumers on the scientific nature of ASF and its positive and negatice effects for obvious reason through information drives.

He noticed that there are still many consumers who are not aware that ASF will not spread from pigs to humans.

Because of some misguided information posted in the social media, he noted sales of pork plunged to nearly 50 percent of lately.

As a result of the abrupt drop in sales, he said some pig farm owners have no choice but to also cut down production of live pigs to avoid over supply.

“When supply drops automatically demand will increase. This will lead to increase of prices,” he explained.

On some suggestions that the government should consider import of ASF-free pork meat/ product to meet the demands, David said the measure will kill local pig farmers and therefore not advisable.

“The most that we can do now is to work in unison with everybody in all aspects to put a complete stop to the spread of the virus. ASF is a highly infectious disease with no cure or ready vaccine to prevent the disease,” he said.