HANOI, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome (PRRS) outbreaks among pigs have occurred in Vietnam's central Khanh Hoa province and southern Ca Mau province since early this month, according to a local animal health agency on Wednesday.

    The disease has hit 90 among 181 pigs raised by seven households in Nha Trang City in Khanh Hoa, and 243 pigs in Ca Mau, the Department of Animal Health under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development said, noting that their specimens were tested positive to PRRS.

    Local veterinary agencies have intensified the culling of infected pigs to prevent the disease from spreading.

    PRRS was first recognized in the United States in the mid-1980s and is now present in most pig producing countries. The symptoms include reproductive failure, pneumonia and increased susceptibility to secondary bacterial infection.