Spread of African Swine Fever has State Looking at Ways To Keep Disease Out Of Pa.

Three words kept coming up at a joint meeting of the House and Senate Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committees this week – African swine fever.

The committees meet to discuss biosecurity and animal health with much of the meeting focused on the disease, which has killed as much as half the pigs in China and could have a devastating effect on not only Pennsylvania but the U.S.

“This is a virus that, unfortunately, if it comes to the U.S., very quickly would result in 100 percent mortality of any of the herds it came into,” said Kevin Brightbill, DVM, state veterinarian and director of...