Once again, only one European state has officially reported new cases of African swine fever over the past week.
During the holiday season, there has been a dip in the number of new outbreaks of African swine fever (ASF) officially reported in Europe and elsewhere.
Romania is the only European country to have reported new outbreaks in domestic pigs to the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE). Two backyard herds were affected in the south of the country — one in each of the counties of Buzau and Dambovita. The outbreaks involved a total of 25 pigs, two of which died.
New research reveals that the ASF virus strain circulating in Romania in 2018 and 2019 belongs to genotype II. It is most closely related to those viruses circulating in Belgium, Russia and China, according to Vlad Petrovan and co-authors.
In their paper published on BioRxiv, the researchers report that Romania has been one of the countries in Europe most impacted by ASF since it first arrived in 2017. Around one million pigs have been lost to the disease in 2018-19.
New ASF outbreaks reported in wild boar
Over the past two weeks, six European states have reported to the OIE new outbreaks of ASF among their respective wild boar populations.
Poland reported the highest losses — 103 animals — over the period November 5-27. All these cases were in the eastern provinces of Warmia-Masuria, Mazovia, Podlaskie, Lublin and Podkarpackie.
Other countries confirming cases to the OIE were Hungary (84 wild boar), Latvia (11), Moldova (7), Romania (6) and Russia (3).
Slovakia’s agriculture ministry has reported to the OIE a recent decision from the European Commission that ASF is only present among wild boar in the country. ASF in domestic pigs is reported as “discontinued” in the country. Its most recent case was in a single wild boar at the end of October.
ASF situation in other regions
There have been no new reports of ASF outbreaks in Africa.
Further cases have been reported to the OIE in China and Russia’s Far East, as well as among wild boar in South Korea.
View our continuing coverage of the African swine fever outbreak
