Scientists identify origin of ASF virus in western Germany

In mid-June, North Rhine-Westphalia became the sixth state in Germany to confirm the detection of African swine fever (ASF) virus. The initial case was a single wild boar. Since then, more individuals found dead in the same area have tested positive for the virus further over the past two weeks.

It might be expected that the virus isolated in those outbreaks would show close similarity to samples from adjacent states in the west of the country, such as Hesse and Rhineland-Palatinate. Less likely but still feasible would be a near match with samples from eastern states, where Germany’s first ASF cases were detected almost five years ago.