As dead pigs are seen floating down a stream in Tachileik, African swine fever is a suspected cause. 

Locals are worried about an unknown illness that has killed around 1,000 pigs in eastern Shan State. 

State-run newspaper Myanmar Ahlin reported on August 5 that the pigs had been mysteriously dying in Tachileik and Mong Hpyak townships since July. 

According to locals, dead pigs have been found floating in the Loi Sahton stream, between Wan Long and Mong He village tracts in Tachileik. 

“We have seen the dead pigs floating in the stream in recent days. I am worried about my pigs being affected by the disease,” Mong Hpyak local Sai Sam told SHAN, adding that people should bury the pigs rather than send their carcasses downstream. 

Sai Mai, from Kengtung, said that he is reluctant to eat pork, given the circumstances. 

“Butchers still sell pork in the market but I am afraid to buy it. I don’t know what disease is a affecting the pigs,” Sai Mai, who lives in Kengtung, said to SHAN.

Tachilek Township’s livestock husbandry and treatment department said that they still don’t know what is killing the pigs, but have sent blood samples from the animals to Naypyidaw for testing. 

“Local people don’t report it to us if their pigs die. They throw their dead pigs into the stream. Some people have buried their dead pigs. I went to observe the situation after we received the information that many pigs had died,” assistant director of the department Dr. Kyaw Kyaw Soe told SHAN. 

He recommended that locals bury dead pigs, and not sell or eat their meat. 

African swine fever has been found in China and is suspected of having reached Shan State. Authorities in Mong La, Special Region 4, culled hundreds of pigs this month to prevent the spread of the disease.