Death Of Isaan Pigs Prompts Investigation

[george]

Death of pigs prompts investigation

KHON KAEN: -- Livestock officials in Thailand's north-eastern province of Khon Kaen are conducting an investigation into the unexplained deaths of pigs in tambon Khok See, amid fears of a disease epidemic.

Mr. Silatham Wara-assawapati, the province’s chief livestock official, told reporters on Friday that officials were collected samples from the bodies of the dead pigs, and that the results of the analysis were expected within a week.

Young pigs in the area have been dying without explanation for the past month.

The first symptoms in the pigs are shaking and muscular twitching, followed by a change in ear colour from pink to purple, and eventual death.

Mr. Silatham said that pig farmers had been warned only to purchase piglets from reputable sources, and to vaccinate them to help prevent the spread of diseases.

--TNA 2005-06-18

[happymanme]

Well after to a 3 second search on the net,i got www.thepigsite.com

and it sounds like septicemia.bloody good site if ya into pigs.

hopefully any pig owners out there will take alook

allan

[bina]

yeah good site but u need a lot more info then the article gave in order to i.d the disease; any vet i ever work with even if i.d. a disease by phone (not uncommon in large animal vet practices) u need to know a lot more then ear colour and shivering: need temperature, smell of urine, foeces, etc....

so since there are 130+ possible diseases, well........i believe that the gov't in their little brains are thinking 'swine flue type'...

[plachon]

yeah good site but u need a lot more info then the article gave in order to i.d the disease; any vet i ever work with even if i.d. a disease by phone (not uncommon in large animal vet practices) u need to know a lot more then ear colour and shivering: need temperature, smell of urine, foeces, etc....

so since there are 130+ possible diseases, well........i believe that the gov't in their little brains are thinking 'swine flue type'...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Don't bet on it Bina............they're probably thinking "make up an excuse, get a lid on this asap and kill the guy who leaked it to the press, all we need now is another pig epidemic, after the damage to tourism and CP chicken meat done by bird flu". Don't forget the "govt" (as in central, aloof and unaccountable), and the local provincial livestock dudes, almost certainly think totally differently on a/ what the cause of some disease is and b/ how to deal with it effectively. Bird flu and the EC Food Commissioner (one David Byrne) were classic examples of this law in action.

[bina]

wasnt david byrne the singer in the talking heads or devo??

i said the gov may be thinking but i didnt mention doing anything....

of course , with pigs, anthrax and some other really wonderful nasties come to mind....

and if the gov mentioned vaccines , well, vaccines are usually for the zoenoses types so... yuck yuck yuck

never a dull day in rural thailand