Vietnam has imported from China 100,000 doses of vaccine against Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome (PRRS), known as "blue ear" disease, which is hitting 10 Vietnamese northern and central provinces.

The vaccines are scheduled to be handed over to Vietnam on April 28, local newspaper Pioneer on Thursday quoted deputy director of the country's Central Veterinary Diagnosis Center To Long Thanh as saying.

The 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.

(Xinhua News Agency April 24, 2008)