ASF in the EU: Significantly more cases than in 2020

By early November, more cases of ASF had already been detected on pig farms in the EU and some neighboring countries than in all of 2020, with a particularly sharp increase recorded in Romania.

This year, outbreaks of African swine fever (ASF) have been reported in 13 European countries. According to the Friedlich-Loeffler-Institut (FLI) based on data from the Animal Disease Notification System (ADNS), 11,755 infections have been detected in wild and domestic pigs in the European Union, including Serbia, Moldova and Ukraine, as of last Friday. Russia is not included in these statistics. A total of 12,315 ASF outbreaks occurred in 2020; this level is expected to be exceeded this month.

In domestic pigs, the number of currently reported outbreaks of ASF is already significantly higher than last year's level (1241 cases) and amounts to 1676 cases. The infamous leader here is Romania with 1495 outbreaks; this is 42% more than for the whole of last year. In Poland, 119 cases of ASF have been reported in domestic pigs this year, compared to 103 in 2020. In Serbia, outbreaks have doubled from 16 to 32 cases. In Germany, only three cases have been reported so far, detected in July on farms in Brandenburg.

Everything is calm in Belgium and Greece

In terms of the incidence of the wild boar population, according to the FLI, a total of 11,074 cases of ASF were detected in 2020; at the beginning of November 2021, the number of outbreaks was 10,079. Hungary accounted for the majority of these, with 2,474 cases; it is followed by Poland (2311) and Germany (2198). Belgium and Greece have disappeared from the list of countries affected by ASF. In Bulgaria, the spread of animal disease in the wild boar population has dropped markedly from 533 cases in the previous year to 202 cases recently; in Slovakia, on the other hand, there was a significant increase from 388 to 1498 cases of ASF.

New ASF genotype discovered in China

In China, according to scientists at the Harbin Veterinary Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS), in the meantime, the presence of genotype I ASF viruses has also been detected. It was common in Portugal and Spain for several decades in the 20th century and is now endemic. disease on the Italian island of Sardinia. According to the researchers, this type of virus is less virulent and is characterized by a chronic clinical picture with necrotic skin lesions and swelling of the joints. Infected pigs are easier to miss in the early stages of an outbreak, scientists say, and the effect of a potential genotype II vaccine is likely to be very limited.