S.Korea probes more suspected African swine fever cases

The South Korean agriculture ministry is probing two more suspected cases of African swine fever after samples from two farms tested positive.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs said it was testing samples from three dead pigs found on two farms in Paju near the border with North Korea, according to the Yonhap news agency.

The city reported the country’s first case of what is a highly contagious and deadly pig disease on Tuesday.

The second case came from the neighboring town of Yeoncheon.

As of Friday, the ministry has culled over 10,000 pigs.

Quarantine has been declared within 6 miles of the affected farms as authorities struggle to contain the outbreak, which has already decimated swine herds in other Asian countries.

African swine fever virus is a large, double-stranded DNA virus in the Asfarviridae family.

It is the causative agent of African swine fever.

The virus causes a haemorrhagic fever with high mortality rates in domestic pigs; some isolates can cause death of animals as quickly as a week after infection.