Only one European country has reported new outbreaks of African swine fever in domestic pigs in the past week.
The only European country to report new outbreaks of African swine fever (ASF) in domestic pigs over the past week is Romania.
Nine new outbreaks of ASF have occurred in Romania. All were confirmed in backyard herds ranging in size from one to 56 pigs. Of the 103 animals affected in total, 19 died and the rest have been destroyed to prevent further spread of the infection, according to the official report from the national animal health agency to the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE).
Outbreaks occurred in the south of Romania, and in western counties that share a border with Hungary or Slovakia.
The European Commission (EC) has been tracking cases of ASF in European Union member states and selected other countries. It has not updated its figures since March 1, when the total number of outbreaks in domestic pigs stood at 160 so far in 2020. Of this total, 146 outbreaks had been in Romania.
New ASF cases in wild boar in 3 European states
Romania’s veterinary authority has reported 34 new cases of ASF in wild boar to the OIE. There were also five cases in Slovakia, and a further four in Moldova. Reporting the most cases to the OIE over the past week was Hungary, whose agriculture ministry has confirmed a further 184 new cases. The majority of these animals tested positive for the ASF virus between February 25 and March 4.
Up to March 1, EC recorded 2,345 confirmed ASF outbreaks among Europe’s wild boar population so far this year. At 933 and 717, respectively, Poland and Hungary have reported the highest number of cases over this period.
Of the 4,879 wild boar tested in Belgium, 832 have been positive for the virus, according to the latest report from the Federal Agency for the Safety of the Food Chain (FASFC). The most recent case in a live animal was detected in August last year. Each month since October 2019, the ASF virus has been detected in the remains of one longtime dead wild boar in the control area.
Belgium reported its first cases of ASF among wild boar in September 2018. Since then, all cases have been found in a control area in the province of Luxembourg — an area of extensive forests in the south of Belgium.
View our continuing coverage of the global African swine fever situation.
