The New York Times reports that the Chinese government is playing down reports on a virus that is “sweeping” the pig population and impacting pork prices:
So far, the mysterious virus ” believed to cause an unusually deadly form of an infection known as blue-ear pig disease ” has spread to 25 of this country’s 33 provinces and regions, prompting a pork shortage and the strongest inflation in China in a decade.
More than that, China’s past lack of transparency ” particularly over what became the SARS epidemic ” has created global concern. [Full text]
[Image: Liu Minghong, a farmer in Sichuan Province, said he lost 70 pigs to a virulent disease, leaving him with just a few, by Ryan Pyle for The New York Times]
