In October 2024, the Indian Ocean island state of Sri Lanka confirmed its first cases of African swine fever (ASF).
An initial notification early the next month recorded outbreaks on three farms on the west coast, near to the capital city of Colombo.
Latest official report to the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) outlines a further 135 outbreaks. Although details are incomplete, these outbreaks affected mainly farms and a total of more than 24,000 ASF cases. One of the larger farms affected had more than 9,500 reported cases. So for the current disease series, the total number of Sri Lankan pigs showing symptoms is close to 28,000.
The virus has also spread some distance eastward and northward across the island, away from the initial epicenter near Colombo.
Most recent of these outbreaks reported to WOAH started in early November.
At the end of December, it was reported that the infection had spread to Sri Lanka’s wild boar population after ASF was confirmed as the cause of death of around 100 of the animals in a national park in the southeast of the country.
Further outbreaks confirmed in India, the Philippines
In the Philippines, ASF has been detected again in pigs in the Caraga region in northeastern Mindanao.
According to the latest update on the disease situation from the Department of Agriculture’s Bureau of Animal Industry (as of December 27), there were ongoing outbreaks in 11 of the country’s 17 regions.
In terms of the number of provinces with cases, the Bicol region on the island of Luzon is worst affected with outbreaks in five provinces. Provinces of North Cotabato (on Mindanao) and Camarines Sur (on Luzon) continue to have the highest number of ASF-affected communities.
In India, the state hit hardest by ASF lately has been Mizoram in the northeast of the country.
During 2024, at least 14,950 of the state’s pigs died of the disease, and 24,177 more were culled. Associated financial losses for the year amounted to INR3.36 billion (US$39.3 million), reported IndiaTodayNE last week.
ASF developments elsewhere in Asia
As the Lunar New Year festivities approach, authorities in Vietnam are making preparations to ensure plentiful supplies of pork for celebration meals.
So far, ASF is under control in central province of Thanh Hoa, according to officials, reported Thanh Hoa News last week. However, the risk of infection remains high among its 1.3 million swine population in 88,000 households.
Vital importance of maintaining preventative measures effectively and in a timely way is essential to keep the disease in check, according to an official in the provincial veterinary department. He said the direction on vaccination from the national agriculture ministry and the provincial authority has two elements: small-scale vaccination is for monitoring and evaluation, while large-scale vaccination aims to control, suppress and contain any future epidemic.
Thanh Hoa is located in the North Central Coast region of Vietnam. It is adjacent to Nghe An province, where a surge in ASF outbreaks has been reported recently, along with a reported reluctance by hog owners to vaccinate their animals.
Latest update from Pig People puts the number of South Korean wild boar infected with the ASF virus since 2019 at 4,211 (as of January 6). That represents an increase of six since the previous update 10 days earlier.
Europe records fewer farm outbreaks, wild boar cases in 2024
Over the full 12 months of 2024, a total of 752 ASF outbreaks were registered in domestic pigs by 16 European states. Among the wild boar population, 21 nations in the region recorded 7,652 outbreaks.
These are the figures published to December 31, 2024, in the Animal Disease Information System from the European Commission (EC). The EC uses the data to monitor selected listed animal diseases in European Union member states and adjacent countries.
Registering the highest number of outbreaks in domestic pigs in 2024 with the EC were the Republic of Serbia (304), Romania (215), Ukraine (70) and Poland (44).
At 2,244, Poland’s total was highest for wild boar, followed by Italy (1,200), Latvia (940), Germany (935), Bulgaria (712), Lithuania (555) and Hungary (420).
For domestic pigs, the number of outbreaks in 2024 is considerably lower than the total of 4,513 for the previous year, when cases were also confirmed to the EC by 16 countries.
Among the wild boar population, 20 countries monitored by the EC System confirmed a total of 7,903 ASF outbreaks last year.
In 2024, all totals (for outbreaks and countries in wild and domestic categories) were higher than in 2022. In that year, 12 countries in the region recorded a total of 537 outbreaks in domestic swine, while 15 states confirmed 7,442 cases in the wild population.
Latest European ASF cases
Over the past week, veterinary authorities of North Macedonia and Romania registered new ASF cases in domestic pigs with WOAH.
In Romania, presence of the ASF virus was detected in five backyard herds. Including one carcass dumped in a public area, these outbreaks involved a total of 114 pigs in five different counties.
Latest outbreak in North Macedonia appears to be the first in the municipality of Ohrid, and it involved a village herd of 42 pigs. Ohrid is part of the country’s Southwestern Region, where ASF cases have been reported since the end of 2023.
Meanwhile, new ASF cases in wild boar have been reported to WOAH over the past week by Poland (163 new cases), Germany (103), North Macedonia (31) and Romania (16).
View our continuing coverage of the global African swine fever situation.
