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0 A suspected case of African Swine Fever has been reported in the Kwahu West Municipality of the Eastern Region.
Samples from affected pigs have been sent to the laboratory for confirmation after pig farmers reported several deaths among their livestock two weeks ago.
The Ghana Health Service explains the situation is being closely monitored, while expecting the laboratory results to determine the next steps.
African Swine Fever is transmitted through direct contact with infected pigs, contaminated feed and water, and vectors such as ticks and flies. Its outbreak can be controlled through disinfection and quarantine measures.
The African sub-region is particularly vulnerable to African Swine Fever.
In 2023, a pig farmer in Kwahu Akwaboa, within the Kwahu West Municipality, lost several pigs, with damages estimated in millions of Ghana cedis, due to the disease.
In September 2021, there were reported cases of African Swine Fever (ASF) in seven pig farms in the Jaman North District in the Bono Region.
Dr Donald Joachim Darko, the Bono Regional Director of the Veterinary Services Department (VSD) told newsmen in Sunyani, that about 200 affected pigs had died of the epidemic.
He said the ASF was a highly contagious and deadly swine disease that could affect pigs and passed on from one pig to another by direct contact with bodily fluids from an infected pig but could not be transmitted from animals to humans.
It could kill the animal within a week of infection, while it also caused miscarriages in an infected pregnant pig and baby pigs delivered by infested pregnant pig could not survive, the Bono VSD Director added.
Dr Darko said the outbreak was reported about two weeks earlier in some pig farms at Jankofa, a farming community in the District, and results of samples that were taken to Accra for testing confirmed the ASF.
He said veterinary officers and other officials of the District Directorate of Ministry of Food and Agricultural had met with the affected farm owners and opinion leaders and educated them about the disease and how to prevent spread to other farms in nearby communities.
Dr. Darko said transporting of animals and animal products from the area had been banned, adding he had directed that a veterinary officer must be present for supervision before the slaughter of any pig to ensure it was healthy and wholesome for human consumption.
He said the 200 animals killed by the disease had been buried in a very deep hole to prevent its spread and assured the situation was now stable.
Dr Darko mentioned the loss of appetite, vomiting, bloodstains around the ears, nose, mouth, and some other parts of the body of a pig and standing quietly as some of the symptoms of the disease that could be demonstrated in affected animals.
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