Message #143789

[Bianca]

Overreaction charge



There have been no cases of swine flu in Egypt.

Pig-farming and consumption is limited to Egypt's Christian minority, estimated at 10% of the population.

On Saturday, health officials began the slaughter in earnest, moving in on a city slum where rubbish collectors are said to keep around 60,000 pigs.

The slaughter is expected to take around a month.

Officials say the cull is aimed at bringing order to the country's pig-rearing industry, so that in future animals are not reared on rubbish tips but on proper farms.

The BBC's Christian Fraser in Cairo says the government has been criticised for overreacting to the threat, but it was also criticised for responding too slowly to the bird flu crisis two years ago.

When bird flu appeared in the country in 2006 mass culls were carried out but at least 22 humans died from the disease.