Malaysia extends pig culling

Malaysia extends pig culling

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): Malaysia has extended pig culling to the southern state of Johor to contain a deadly disease after one animal was tested positive for encephalitis, a report said on Sunday.

Chief Minister Abdul Ghani Othman said all pigs at a farm near Tangkak, in the southern most state of Johor, would be destroyed.

Officials said the affected farm with about 4,000 pigs was located deep inside a plantation and away from residential zones.

Authorities in the northern state of Perak last Thursday also said pigs infected with the Nipah virus have been detected at two farms considered low-risk

Chief Minister Ramli Ngah Talib had said another 8,500 pigs would be culled as soon as possible to contain the Nipah virus. A total of 154,839 pigs in high-risk areas in the state have already been killed.