TAIPEI -- In late 2002, when the SARS virus began spreading in southern China, health authorities there waited until February 2003 to report the then-unknown contagion to the World Health Organization. China's inadequate and less-than-transparent initial response provided ideal conditions for the respiratory virus to spread globally, ultimately infecting more than 8,000 people and killing more than 700 people in 37 countries.
The current rapid spread of African swine fever throughout China and to its neighbors appears to be following a similar narrative. And just as China bore the brunt of its mishandling of SARS -- recording the most infections and deaths -- it is poised to incur serious economic consequences from African swine fever that could last well into the next year or two, according to experts.
