A team of veterinarian technicians has traveled to the sister island, Barbuda to continue the blood samples from the pigs to ensure that the virus is not present on the island.
During the visit, the team took samples from three participating farmers who were willing to support the pilot. The team of veterinary technicians is led by Alexandria Dowdey from the Ministry of Agriculture Veterinary Livestock Division.
The African swine fever pilot is a collaboration between IICA and USDA in support of the Ministry of Agriculture priority actions towards the food security and nutritional security.
Field activities continued with visits to four pig farms in Antigua collecting 35 samples of blood.
The goal is to collect minimum 80 samples of blood which will be shipped to Plum Island today, November 7.
The Veterinary and Livestock Division continued to collect blood samples over the past week from other pig farms in an effort to reach the goal of the pilot.
African Swine Fever (ASF) is a highly contagious viral disease affecting domestic and wild pigs, with a near 100% mortality rate. While it does not pose a risk to human health, it poses a significant threat to the pig farming industry in the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) region, not only directly affecting the herds but also causing devastating socio-economic impacts, threatening livelihoods and food and nutrition security.
With outbreaks already confirmed in parts of the Caribbean, including the Dominican Republic and Haiti, the risk of ASF spreading across CARICOM is high due to the region’s interconnected economies, porous borders, high dependence on food imports and limited veterinary infrastructure.
