Latin America scrambles to avoid African swine flu outbreak

Latin American meat producers cashed in when China faced a pork shortage between 2018 and 2020, as African swine fever devastated the country’s pork supply, the staple meat for much of the population. But now, producers fear the disease — which is deadly for pigs but poses no risk to humans — is making its way to the Americas.

As we recently reported, health authorities identified cases of African swine flu (ASF) in the Dominican Republic – the first such cases in the Americas in the past 40 years. Now, 22 organizations linked to the pork industry, across 18 Latin American countries, have created a “crisis committee” that will meet periodically to find solutions to stop the virus from spreading.

Will Latin America be able to act as quickly and decisively as China did three years ago? The failure to control the devastating spread of Covid across the continent provides a worrying augury. 

So far, though, the disease has been contained within the island of Hispaniola, which the Dominican Republic shares with Haiti. Although Dominican pork exports have been halted, the disease is still spreading to new provinces, and many vectors could take it off the island, leading to billions in potential losses. Livestock would need...