Since a long time ago, there had been a lot of diseases in the world that killed may animals and people. Because humans have been threatened by many viruses, they created vaccines for these viruses. In 2015, there was one disease that scared many people. It was called Middle East respiratory syndrome. An outbreak of Middle East respiratory syndrome happened in South Korea, so people were very shocked and scared since middle East respiratory syndrome had no vaccine at that time. And, this kind of virus attacked pigs. A new virus called African Swine Fever started in Africa, and this virus was also found in pigs in South Korea.

▲ Middle East respiratory syndrome virus

The African Swine Fever (ASF) is a swine infectious disease that occurs because of a virus. This virus has a fatality rate of a maximum of one hundred percent because the vaccine for ASF has not been created yet. In addition, the incubation period of this virus is four days to 19 days. ASF virus is also strong that it can survive at a low temperature. Luckily, people will not get infected b this infectious disease. This disease only infects pigs. So, although people eat pork that is infected by it, they will not be infected. However, basically, a swine that is infected is killed. If an infected swine is found in one farm, all the pigs within three kilometers including all the pigs in that farm will be killed. So, the government is saying that it is safe to eat pork that is circulated.

▲ African Swine Fever

ASF is spread by immediate contact with infected swine. Also, when pigs eat foods that include pork, they can be infected. So, many experts are worried about this situation because pigs live in small places with many other pigs. This kind of breeding mode can make this situation worse.

Actually, there are some things that people can do to prevent a more serious situation. People should not bring pork and processed goods made with pork from other countries. In addition, it is better to refrain from traveling to countries that have breeding ground of pigs such as China, Mongolia, and Vietnam. To get this circumstance better, we have to pay attention to ASF and do the right things so that we can avoid it.

Oct. 20, 2019

by Kim yerin