A new vaccine has been dispatched to China’s disease-hit regions to combat the highly pathogenic blue-ear pig disease, otherwise know as porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS).
According to China’s Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) the first batches of the new vaccines came of the production lines on Wednesday (13 June, 2007) of two companies in Zhejiang and Sichuan provinces.
The vaccines will be available to pig farmers free of charge. The Chinese government has already allocated 260 million yuan (US$36.5 million) for the vaccination program. PRRS was first spotted in China in the summer of 2006, but researchers concluded that the disease was caused by a mutated highly pathogenic variant of the original virus. China gave the go ahead in May for 12 companies to produce the vaccine for the new variant.
The plan is that the output of the vaccine will total 70 million milliliters (mml)in June, 145 mml in July and 189 mml in August.
The disease has already caused the deaths 18,597 pigs and the culling of a further 5,778 in China.