Meanwhile, African swine fever continues to circulate in Europe’s wild boar as the outbreak total passes the 7,500-milestone.
Three European states have reported new cases of African swine fever (ASF) in their respective pig sectors during the past week.
Russia’s veterinary authority has officially registered the first outbreak in a new ASF “wave” in Voronezh oblast. According to the latest report to the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE), the virus was detected at a farm in the Vorobyovsky district during the last week of June. Of the 549 pigs at the premises, 15 died. The fate of the other animals is not reported.
Voronezh oblast is located in the Central federal district of Russia. ASF was reported in this area two months previously.
Also in the Central district, a second ASF outbreak has been confirmed in Vladimir oblast. Again, a backyard herd was affected — this time in the district of Muromsky. All of these animals showed symptoms of the disease, and five died.
ASF outbreaks in Europe’s domestic pigs in 2021 stand at 564
From Romania has come official notification of a further five ASF outbreaks in small herds of domestic pigs. These are the latest in a series of outbreaks that began three years ago.
According to the most recent OIE reports, these directly impacted a total of 25 pigs — all in backyards of up to 14 animals. The affected premises were in the northwest and south of the country.
Among the three new ASF outbreaks reported by Poland’s chief veterinary office is one involving a farm with almost 980 pigs in the northeastern province of Warmia-Masuria. Other cases were in one herd of 54 pigs in neighboring Podlaskie, and another of 27 animals in Subcarpathia (Podkarpackie) in the southeast of the country. All were described by the authority as primary outbreaks. These bring to 11 the number of confirmed ASF outbreaks among Polish pigs so far this year.
So far this year, 564 outbreaks have been confirmed among domestic pigs, according to the latest update of the Animal Disease Information Notification System from the European Commission (EC; as of June 27).
Of the five European states registering cases through this system in 2021, three reported new outbreaks during June. These include the worst-affected country, Romania (now with 517 outbreaks so far in 2021). At the end of last month, Slovakia confirmed its first outbreak of the year with the EC.
As well as in Poland, Romania and Slovakia, there have been ASF outbreaks this year in Serbia (33 outbreaks) and Ukraine (five).
During the whole of 2020, 1,240 ASF outbreaks in pigs were registered with the EC by 10 European countries. The EC system does not monitor the ASF situation in Russia.
East German state completes wild boar control fencing
Last week, the government of the state of Brandenburg announced that the completion of the final 15-kilometer section of a wild boar control fence. This barrier now runs for 255 kilometers along the border between Brandenburg and Poland. Now that the fence encloses the Oder and Neisse rivers, the authorities hope to prevent the spread of ASF to more German wild animals as well as to the country’s so-far-unaffected domestic pigs.
Germany’s total cases of ASF in wild boar now stands at 1,483 animals, based on information from the respective administrations of the two states affected so far. This is an increase of 60 over the previous week.
With 1,213 confirmed cases since September 2020 (as of July 5), Brandenburg continues to be the German state worst affected by ASF. Positive cases have been detected in five districts, according to the agriculture ministry. Oder-Spree district accounts for the most cases (636).
Neighboring Saxony is the only other state in Germany where ASF-positive cases have been detected among wild boar. By June 29, its total had reached 270 cases, reported the agriculture ministry. All infected cases so far have been found in the district of Görlitz.
European wild boar outbreaks pass 7,500 milestone
As of June 27, 12 European countries had registered 7,507 ASF outbreaks in wild boar with the EC system. For comparison, 14 of the region’s states recorded a total on 11,027 outbreaks during the whole of 2020.
Registering the most cases so far in 2021 is Hungary with 2,365 outbreaks, while Poland’s total has reached 1,850. Also confirming new cases during the month of June were Slovakia (now with 1,194 outbreaks so far this year), Germany (835), Romania (783), Bulgaria (177), Latvia (119), Lithuania (72) and Estonia (29).
Earlier this year, Italy, Serbia and Ukraine registered cases in wild boar with the EC, but none since April.
View our continuing coverage of the global African swine fever situation.
