Hong Kong health chief said yesterday piglets will be vaccinated next spring to prevent the possible spread of Japanese encephalitis, local radio reported.
York Zhou, secretary for health, welfare and food, was quoted by Hong Kong Commercial Broadcasting Co as saying that the government has enhanced the mosquitoes surveillance and was collecting information on the quantity of mosquitoes that may carry the JE virus, in an effort to control the breeding of those mosquitoes.
Chow said the vaccination for piglets will be launched in March and April.
Medical experts said JE is an endemic disease of local pigs, and the mosquitoes may acquire the virus from birds and pigs, which are known as the reservoir and amplifying host of the
disease.
Five people have been reported to contract JE this year, and the fifth patient is in serious condition now.
In another development, local agricultural authorities said on Saturday they are conducting tests on a heron suspected of carrying the H5 avian flu virus.
Workers who came in contact with the bird are being watched, and neighboring poultry farms have been monitored.
Hong Kong's agriculture and fisheries department picked up the suspect heron in Lok Ma Chau on December 3.
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