Skopje, 11 August 2022 (MIA) — To respond to multiple African swine fever outbreaks in the northeast of the country, the government has tasked animal health officials to form a coordinating committee to deal with the consequences of the disease and protect pig farms, the government said in a press release. The government’s decision follows after the Food and Veterinary Agency experts contained African swine fever outbreaks in three villages near Kochani in the past week. According to Food and Veterinary Agency department head Vanja Kondratenko, there is no effective treatment or vaccine against African swine fever, a highly contagious viral disease that causes severe bleeding and death in domestic and wild pigs. The only way to stop the outbreak was to destroy and safely dispose of all infected pigs, Kondratenko said. “Diseased pigs had been transported illegally from the mountain village of Cera to the village of Mojanci, and we, after receiving information about it, reacted immediately. Within two days, 50 animals were safely killed, removed and buried,” he said. Infected animals were also destroyed on two pig farms in the villages of Trkanje and Preseka near Kochani, and more pigs would be destroyed as necessary, he added. African swine fever appeared in the mountain village of Dramche near Delchevo in January 2022. The disease was also discovered in the village of Moshtica near Makedonska Kamenica, where 147 pigs have been destroyed so far and control efforts are still ongoing. mr/