Fifty years ago, in 1971, the African Swine Fever virus was reported in Cuba, which was deliberately introduced by the United States Central Intelligence Agency and which forced the slaughter of nearly half a million pigs to cut the transmission cycle.

Las Tunas, Cuba.- The same thing happened with around 300 thousand specimens in 1980, when the disease appeared in the municipality of Caimanera, in the province of Guantánamo, with laboratory-modified virus strains, and caused enormous losses to the national economy.

An intense surveillance effort is being carried out throughout the country in order to prevent the entry of the disease through ports, marinas and airports since there is still no vaccine to immunize pigs against contagion.

Ricardo Núñez Pérez, a specialist from the Department of Animal Health of the Delegation of the Ministry of Agriculture in Las Tunas, insisted that if there is a new outbreak, the entire mass would be lost, both from the private and state sectors; so there is no choice but to avoid it.

Coupled with this, a permanent control program is being developed to prevent Classical Swine Fever in the units of the sector in the province, which is based on the vaccination of all specimens against the so-called swine cholera.

The disease has a high lethality and its prevention is achieved with the systematic review of the herds to be aware of the presence of symptoms of the dangerous disease, and rule it out in time without the possibility of spreading to other territories.

"The difference with African Swine Fever is that for this condition there is a vaccine, Porvac, created by the Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology; although its production depends on the entry of raw material into the country. That is why we establish priorities to immunize the animals.

"There are currently no reports of the disease here. This is a daily struggle of pig breeders and veterinarians and when it comes to immunizing the pyramid is applied; that is, to the genetic centers that guarantee the breeding stock and then to the remaining units.

"It is favorable that this drug guarantees vertical protection (from mother to child, through the placenta) and horizontal (from specimen to specimen), which is why it is very effective against the viral disease, highly contagious, and has prevented many deaths of pigs for that cause."