Recently there has been a lot of news about the African swine flu. The reason, this virus is considered very dangerous for humans. Is that true?
African swine flu is not the same as swine flu. African swine flu or African Swine Fever (ASF) is a virus that attacks pigs, both wild boars and local pigs on farms. The flu comes from a virus familyAsfarviridae.
Is African Swine Flu Dangerous?
Actually, African swine flu is harmless to humans, how come. The virus that causes this disease only attacks pigs. Eating pork infected with this virus also does not cause health problems in humans.
Based on the severity of the symptoms, African swine flu is divided into two types, namely:
I
Pigs will lose their appetite, have a fever, are weak, lethargic, and experience bleeding in the skin of the ears, stomach, and legs. In addition, these four-legged animals can also experience diarrhea, vomiting, miscarriage, and death in less than 20 days.
Subacute and chronic
In this type of swine flu, the symptoms that appear in pigs are lighter, and the risk of death is also lower, which is about 30-70 percent.
Can the African Swine Flu be eradicated?
Currently, there is still no vaccine that can ward off the African swine flu virus. The only way to reduce the risk of pigs contracting this virus is to biosecurity or biological safety, i.e. being kept away from the source of the virus.
In addition, it is important to ensure that animal feed, the environment and any equipment used to raise pigs are not contaminated by this virus.
Although eating pork that has been exposed to the African swine flu virus does not cause health problems in humans, pork may contain bacteria, parasites, or other viruses. such as hog cholera virus or hepatitis E virus. Therefore, process the meat thoroughly before consuming it and make sure the pork is not contaminated with germs.
