TOKYO, Dec. 25 (Xinhua) -- The sixth case of swine fever was detected on Tuesday in central Japan as the epidemic crisis escalated, prompting the central government to launch a crisis control unit with Ground Self-Defense Force (GSDF) troops, local media reported on Tuesday.

Following tests which confirmed the virus, also known as hog cholera, at a pig farm in Seki, Gifu Prefecture, the local government began the culling of 7,547 hogs which will be buried later by the 1,600 GSDF troops sent there.

The outbreak of hog cholera occurred at a farm in the city of Gifu in September for the first time this year. Prior to that, Japan had not seen a case of swine flu for decades.

Since then, the virus has been found in wild boars in Gifu and neighboring Aichi prefectures. However, the virus is not contagious to humans even if an infected animal is consumed.

The local government of Gifu has suggested the virus may have made its way onto the farms and facilities by way of wild boars or pigs that had contracted the disease and passed it onto the local farms and enclosures.