In Naungmi, a village located on Ledo Road, in Hukaung Valley of Kachin State, locals are facing a rise in pig deaths due to the swine fever disease.

A local resident told the Myitkyina News Journal that pigs have been dying almost every day since the beginning of September. Now the village already has lost about 50 pigs, he said.

Pigs die a lot. They are dying almost every day. Burying dead pigs or floating them out to the water are very busy. Nowadays, Naungmi villagers don’t even want to eat pork anymore. Pigs are dying in almost every house where domestic pigs are farmed.

The infected pigs can’t eat well and die within a day. The disease also spread very quickly in the village.

People don't dare to eat pork anymore because pigs die of disease, another local told Myitkyina News Journal.

“Pigs from the outskirts to the inner parts of the village died. Dead pigs are often found in bushes and in the stream. The elders also instruct the local butchers not to sell pork at the moment”, he said.

Some villages believe the infection started when the pigs transported from the lower regions died halfway and the dead pigs were dumped outside the village.

The village of Naungmi has around 1000 households, and almost every household raises pigs.

Because of the rapid spread of the virus, local residents are also worried that the disease will spread to the people.