Chinese officials are dealing with the carcasses of at least 2,800 pigs found in a river which supplies water to the city of Shanghai. Porcine circovirus has been found in water samples from the Huangpu River which runs through the city, speculation is the carcasses were dumped into the river by farmers upstream who have been battling an epidemic of the virus in recent weeks.
Shanghai authorities are scrambling to assure the city’s residents that the circovirus does not pose a threat to human health and tests for other pig-borne illnesses such as cholera and foot-and-mouth have come up negative.
The first carcasses were found on Thursday near a water treatment plant and the numbers increased dramatically over the weekend. Officials have been working to remove the carcasses quickly and fear the number may rise as they are pulled from the water.
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