ROME, Nov 16: A scientist with the UN food agency sounded a warning on Friday about the global spread of a deadly pig disease that is having a devastating effect on herds and has puzzled experts who have failed to find a cure.

Concerns about Post-weaning Multi-systematic Wasting Syndrome (PMWS) caused the hog futures market in the United States to crash on Friday.

“It is a worry. The disease is getting worse and we don’t know what to do about it,” said Dr Peter Roeder, an animal health officer specialising in virology at the Food and Agriculture Organisation in Rome.

The wasting disease is present in many countries, including Britain, where it has cut a swath through an estimated 40 percent of the national herd in an industry brought to its knees by the foot and mouth outbreak earlier this year.—AFP