The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) on March 19 recommended Vietnam declare a state of emergency in the country due to the rapidly spreading outbreak of African swine fever.

The virus was first detected in this country in Southeast Asia a month ago at three farms in two northern provinces and quickly spread to 17 provinces of northern Vietnam with confirmation of 239 outbreaks, the FAO statement said.

Pork accounts for three-quarters of the total meat consumption in Vietnam, a country with a population of 95 million people, where most of the 30 million pigs raised on national farms are consumed domestically. “The loss of pigs due to ASF infection and control measures introduced have led to severe economic the burden for many rural families, ”said Albert T. Lieberg, FAO Representative in Vietnam, after meeting with the Vietnamese authorities last week.

Vietnam maintains strict control over the movement of pigs and pig products and has destroyed more than 25,000, but the FAO, however, said that small farms with low biological safety contribute to the spread of ASF. The disease, which is harmless to humans but incurable in pigs, is also quickly spread to neighboring China. Last week, Beijing banned the import of pigs, boars and related products from Vietnam.