Classical swine fever:
Incidence and impact on
pig production system in North East India
R. Deka, B. Bett, K. Rich, V. Padmakumar, I. A. Wright
● What is Classical Swine Fever?  Highly contagious pig disease caused by single stranded +ve sense RNA virus (CSFV)
● What is the study objective?  To understand the incidence and economic impact on smallholder production system
 Participatory epidemiology survey (in 60 villages randomly selected from 3 NE States)
● What methodology used?  Key informant interview (in each village)
 Lab testing of blood samples from surveyed villages for confirmatory diagnosis
STUDY FINDINGS ••••
Livelihood importance of pigs CSF outbreak Monthly incidence of CSF outbreaks
Average % of rural 80.3% (in surveyed villages State Months Outbreaks Incidence
households that keep pigs during Jan 2010- July 2011) at risk (No) (95% CI)
State No. of %
Households identified pig Assam 82 14 17.1
outbreak
farming as No. 2 income 45.5% (9.3 –28.6)
source after agriculture Assam 14 48%
Mizoram 220 3 1.4
Nagaland 11 38% (0.2 – 4.0)
Households identified pig Nagaland 176 9 5.4
Mizoram 4 14% (2.3 – 9.7)
farming as the most 46.6%
promising source of income Total 478 26 5.4
Total 29 100%
(3.5 – 8.0)
No. of outbreaks based on participants recall
8 PRA surveys indicate that the incidence of CSF is higher
7
between March – June. These surveys also showed that
Number of outbreaks
6
5
outbreaks last for about 36 days (95% CI: 19.0 – 53.8). It
4 is probable that these outbreaks run their full epidemic
3
2
course as there is inadequate infrastructure for
1 implementing response measures. Behavioral practices
0
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
such as selling off infected/potentially infected animals
in the face of an outbreak by farmers in a bid to avoid
Month
mortality losses promote transmission of the disease.
Summary of type of losses by state and magnitude (%) relative to mean household income
States → Assam Mizoram Nagaland
Type of losses ↓ Avg. loss % loss Loss USD/yr Avg. loss % loss Loss USD/yr Avg. loss % loss Loss USD/yr
1. Mortality 48.9 8.41 30.41 million 5.0 0.86 0.66 million 16.3 2.80 5.18 million
2. Treatment 0.66 0.11 0.47 million 0.06 0.01 0.008 million 0.30 0.05 0.0001 million
3. Replacement 2.81 0.48 1.98 million 0.29 0.05 0.037 million 1.14 0.20 0.36 million
Total 32.86 million 0.70 million 5.54 million
Assam incurs more losses from CSF compared to the other states in Northeast India as it has a higher population
of pigs and hence experiences higher incidence of the disease. More epidemiological studies will be
conducted to identify risk factors and transmission rates of the disease