China’s African swine-fever outbreak has spread more than 1,000 miles from the country’s first established cases, with confirmation of a fourth outbreak of the highly contagious virus raising concerns of a pork shortage next year. An outbreak at three farms in Yueqing in eastern China’s Zhejiang province was confirmed by China’s Center for Animal Health and Epidemiology, the country’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs said Thursday. Elsewhere, at least 8,000 pigs have been culled in an effort to contain the disease, according to the World Organization for Animal Health. It is highly contagious, putting at risk China’s more than 400 million pigs and potentially causing a shortage in the staple food. China has quarantined infected farms and surrounding areas and killed animals that are infected or that might be.

Source: Wall Street Journal August 23, 2018 14:15 UTC