New York Times: As Swine Fever Roils Asia, Hogs Are Culled and Dinner Plans Change
“…[B]ecause China is the world’s largest producer and consumer of pork, the mainland government’s move to cull more than a million pigs is now being felt across a sprawling global industry that includes truckers, pork dealers, and soybean feed farmers. … The highly contagious virus, which affects pigs but not humans, has been around for years. But the current outbreak affects a region where pork is often the primary staple of local diets. The current outbreak was first reported in mainland China in August. Since then, the virus has spread to pig herds in every mainland Chinese province, as well as to Vietnam, Cambodia, and Mongolia…” (Ives/Li, 5/14).

Science: African swine fever keeps spreading in Asia, threatening food security
“…The crisis is not only causing economic hardship, but also threatens food security in the region. In Vietnam, where pork accounts for three-quarters of the meat consumption, more than 1.2 million pigs across the country — 4% of the national herd — have now died or been killed, the Vietnamese government announced on 13 May. ‘This is probably the most serious animal health disease (the world has) had for a long time, if not ever,’ says Dirk Pfeiffer, a veterinary epidemiologist at City University of Hong Kong…” (Normile, 5/14).