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EU Cases of African Swine Fever Triple Those in Russia
The number of cases of African swine fever recorded in the Eastern European and Baltic states since the outbreak started in 2012 is three times the number of cases recorded in Russia since the first incident in 2007.
The total number of cases in Eastern Europe since 2012 is 2,498 with 531 incidents reported this year alone.
For the whole of Russia there have been 786 cases since 2007 with 13 reported this year.
The first Eastern European state to report a cases of ASF outside of Russia was Ukraine in 2012.
Since then there have been 57 outbreaks in domestic pigs and wild boar.
Lithuania reported its first case of ASF in January 2014 and since then there have been 205 cases with 37 this year.
Poland’s first incident was in May 2014 and there have been 91 cases since hen with four this year.
Latvia’s first cases was in June 2014 and to date there have been 1,104 incidents with 206 in 2016.
Estonia recorded its first case in September 2014 and thee have now been 1,002 cases with 277 this year.
According to the Russian veterinary authority, Rosselkhoznador, much of the problem for the spread of the disease in Eastern Europe and the Baltic states is the wild boar population.
FAO figures shows the population to be around 4.5 million.
“The high population density of these animals complicates the control and eradication of ASF in the EU and can be a major factor in contributing to the further spread of ASF in the countries of Central and Western Europe,” Rosselkhoznador said.
Rosselkhoznador added that the growth of the troubles in Ukraine also help in the spread of epizootic diseases.
The veterinary authority said that the significant difference between the number of cases in domestic pigs and wild boar shows how the problem is being spread through infected meat.
The Rosselkhoznador spokesman said that there was particular concern that an incident has been recorded on a small farm in the village of Milolyubovka in the Odessa region which I near to the border with Moldova, because this could signify that the risk of the disease spreading to Southern European countries is very real.
Earlier this month, Rosselkhoznador convened the third meeting of the group of experts, the European Commission and the World Animal Health Organization (OIE) to discuss the existing risk and the potential of the spread of the disease to other areas in Europe.
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