Beijing — China is battling to stop the rapid spread of deadly African swine fever (ASF) across the world’s largest hog herd after four outbreaks in three weeks, stoking fear that the disease could spread in Southeast Asia. The discovery of ASF in China signals a new advance in the disease’s spread from Europe through Russia. China accounts for nearly half the world’s pork production. Chinese people individually are the biggest consumers of the meat. "The swine industry has never seen an ASF outbreak in such a production landscape, and control measures are untested," said the Swine Health Information Center, a US research body. The World Organisation for Animal Health said ASF was the most devastating swine disease. It caused fever, haemorrhaging in the skin and internal organs and death in two to 10 days. But it was not harmful to people. Reuters
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