The African swine fever epidemic could wipe out around a quarter of the world's pig population, animal health experts have warned.
African swine fever broke out last year in China, which has half the world’s pig population, and has now been identified in 50 countries, including Poland, Russia, South Korea and the Philippines, the Guardian reports.
The spread of the disease, which has killed as many as 100 million pigs in China already, has inflamed a world crisis, according to the World Organisation for Animal Heath (OIE), and it is expected to drastically drive up the price of meat products in the future.
Dr Mark Schipp, OIE’s vice-president, said scientists across the globe faced a "complex challenge" in trying to find a vaccine for the virus.
The disease, which is transmitted through direct contact with infected animals and via ticks, does not affect humans - but is almost always fatal once it reaches a pig.
Experts are also particularly worried about cross-border contamination as the virus can survive for several months in processed meat and several years in a frozen carcus.
Meat products containing the virus were found at a port in Northern Ireland in July.
In live animals, the virus has been identified in Belgium, where a cull is planned on the country's wild boar population.
Alistair Driver, editor of the UK’s Pig World, told the Guardian he expects to see "a huge deficit in pork production for the foreseeable future".
He added: "Pork prices in China are at record levels and there are already signs that consumers are switching to other proteins.
"The Asian ASF crisis is having an enormous impact on the global pork industry, with record export volumes pushing prices up around the world.”
