A total of 405 domestic pigs died from African Swine fever at a farm in Bhajani Municipality-3 of Kailali in the past one week.

There were 482 pigs in the farm of Badimalika Agriculture Promotion Centre and was being run by a local, Jaya Bahadur Budha.

A rapid test of a sample from a pig that died on October 31 came positive for African swine fever, said Dr Naresh Prasad Joshi, chief at the livestock disease control laboratory in Dhangadhi.

“We have collected the samples and sent them to the laboratory at the Central Animal Disease Investigation and Control Division,” said Joshi,.

Joshi said that a real-time polymerase chain reaction test conducted on the sample also came back positive for the disease.

Meanwhile, the Dhangadi-based Animal Disease Investigation and Control Division has issued a statement informing the general public and animal farms about the spread of African swine fever.