A swine fever epidemic plaguing Gifu Prefecture since September is continuing to rage with a seventh case identified Tuesday, leading to a cull of 1,600 pigs, local authorities said.

After tests confirmed the fresh case at a farm in the city of Kakamigahara, prefectural officials requested the dispatch of Ground Self-Defense Force troops to cull and bury the pigs.

The prefectural government also plans to cull about 150 pigs at a wholesale market in the city of Gifu that received a dozen pigs from the Kakamigahara farm, as well as some 900 pigs at a farm in the city of Motosu that earlier this month bought about 80 piglets from the site of the latest outbreak.