HANOI, Vietnam – The Vietnam government stated on June 25 that 2.8 million pigs, or 10 percent of the country’s herd, has been culled recently due to African Swine Fever (ASF) according to according to a Reuters report.

According to a government statement by the Livestock Production department, ASF has spread to 60 of 63 provinces in Vietnam.

Reuters also said that the disease spread into large industrial operations and not just farms.

"This is a very worrying sign as these farms have tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of pigs each and therefore the damages would be significant," the Vietnam government said in a statement.

Several Asian countries, including China, have already seen significant losses due to the outbreak of ASF. The largest pork producer in the world is expected to have losses in production of 25 to 35 percent, affecting an estimated 150 million to 200 million pigs worldwide.

In May, the United States and Canada agreed to modify export certificates to ensure safe trade in the event an outbreak of ASF occurs in either country.

There has never been a detected case of ASF in the US. There is also no vaccination for the disease.

ASF is harmless to humans but deadly to swine. The virus is transmissible via contaminated animal feed, premises, vehicles, equipment and clothing. Biting flies and ticks can transmit the disease by taking blood meals from an infected animal and passing on the virus to other susceptible animals.

Pigs can become infected through direct contact with infected pigs, and garbage containing unprocessed infected pig meat also are vectors for transmission. Warthogs can be a reservoir for the virus and show no clinical signs of infection.