For several years now, China’s pig farmers have faced an increasing threat from a mosquito-borne disease known as “Getah Virus.” Also known as “GETV,” outbreaks in Chinese swine go back to at least 2017, with sporadic outbreaks in years since, though there is little talk of the issue by officials or state-run media.
GETV is widely distributed around the world and has been reported in many countries, including the Philippines, India, Japan, Korea, China, and Russia. The virus has a wide spectrum of infection, affecting horses, pigs, cattle, and blue foxes, among others. Symptoms in infected pigs include fever, arthritis, and miscarriages, as well as reproductive disorders in gestating sows.
You will not find a lot -if any – “official” China news detailing the GETV outbreaks. Several experts on Chinese agriculture believe that officials are trying to keep it out of the headlines, for whatever reason – it’s the Chinese Communist Party, they don’t need a reason. However, there are tons of reports from local farmers on social media discussing the disease and sharing videos that show dead pigs and mass burial pits.
Additionally, numerous epidemiological studies have documented the on-again, off-again outbreaks over the years. A study released in April 2025 found that GETV has proliferated across more than 20 regions within China. What’s more, two Chinese studies over the last five years have detected the contamination of GETV in one of the country’s live vaccines for “porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus” (PRRSV).
The vaccine contamination could be particularly relevant as there is widespread belief among China’s pork producers that GETV is a problem for small-scale farmers who keep their livestock mostly outdoors. The big pig operations in China operate in massive, self-contained structures that employ strict biosecurity measures, which industry insiders say insulate them from the spread of GETV.
However, if the disease is inadvertently being spread via the vaccine, biosecurity measures will hardly be effective. At the same time, if the disease is really concentrated among smaller farmers, experts believe ongoing GETV outbreaks will likely add momentum to the industry’s consolidation trend, something that the Chinese government has been advocating for years.
It is important to remember that GETV is more of a seasonal disease, too, and outbreaks tend to coincide with mosquito populations. Meaning it’s a bigger problem during warm months and mostly disappears during the winter. Mosquito populations were particularly thick this year following widespread flooding across China’s provinces.
China ag expert Fred Gale, a former USDA economist and writer of the “Dim Sums” blog, notes that GETV may have been responsible for plunging Chinese pork prices that began in August. The November 2025 contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange fell nearly -20% between August and mid-October. Gale notes falling prices are common at the start of disease outbreaks as pigs are culled en masse and infected pigs are illegally slaughtered and sold on the market. This initial phase of sow deaths/culling impacts supplies 6 to 8 months later, according to Gale, which results in pork prices skyrocketing. (Sources: Dim Sums, Guangdong Academy of Agricultural Sciences, National Center for Biotechnology Information, Nature)
