Bangkok (VNA) – As the African swine fever (ASF) has started tospread in China, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO)organised an emergency meeting in Bangkok on September 5 to discuss the threatof the virus across Asia.

The three-day meeting has brought together specialists in animal disease and agriculturalpolicy from China and its nine neighbouring countries - namely Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar,the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Japan, Mongolia, and the Republic of Korea.

They will assess the situation and determine a plan for coordination andresponse in the region.

“It’s critical that this region be ready for the very real possibility that ASFcould jump the border into other countries,” the FAO’s Wantanee Kalpravidh saidin a statement.

China reported its first case in the northeastern Liaoning province earlierlast month. The disease has since spread south, prompting a cull of 38,000pigs.

African swine fever does not affect humans but causes haemorrhagic fever inpigs and wild boars that is almost always fatal.

There is no antidote or vaccine, and the only known preventative measure is amass cull of infected livestock.

Swine fever spreads by contact between infected pigs, ticks, or other wildanimals and can inflict massive economic damage on farms. –VNA