African swine fever

In recent years, in most regions of the Russian Federation, the situation with African swine fever (ASF) has sharply worsened

For the current period of 2022, ASF disease has been registered in the Russian Federation in Ivanovo, Chelyabinsk, Astrakhan, Oryol and other regions.

In order to prevent the spread of African swine fever to the population of the region, it is necessary to know what kind of disease it is and strictly follow preventive measures to prevent it.

African swine fever is a particularly dangerous, highly contagious, viral disease. First registered in Russia in 2008. The virus infects wild and domestic pigs of all breeds and ages at any time of the year.

The disease is highly lethal, spreads very quickly and causes enormous material damage to agriculture. Up to 100% of diseased pigs die. Treatment is prohibited, there is no vaccine.

Pigs become infected through contact with sick and recovered animals: through feed (especially food waste), water, care items, vehicles contaminated with secretions from sick animals, as well as through contact with the corpses of dead pigs and slaughter products of infected pigs. Most often, ASF is caused by feeding uncooked food waste from home kitchens, various catering departments and canteens, slaughterhouse waste, as well as mixed feed and grain products that have not undergone heat treatment to pigs.

The disease is carried by domestic and wild animals, birds, rodents and insects.

The virus is very stable: it persists in food, water and the environment for months, freezing and drying have no effect on it. It is destroyed exclusively by heating to high temperatures or by the action of disinfectants.

Symptoms. It takes 2-7 days from infection to the onset of symptoms. In animals, body temperature rises to 42 ° C, shortness of breath, cough appear, appetite disappears, thirst increases, bouts of vomiting and paralysis of the hind limbs are noted. Death occurs in 1-5 days, less often later. There is a chronic course of the disease.

Owners of pigs must observe the following:
- Owners of personal subsidiary plots and farms should keep pigs in pigsties and barns without walking and contact with other animals;
- exclude feeding pigs with animal feed and food waste without boiling. Buy only commercially produced food or boil it for 3 hours before feeding;
- treat pigs and premises for their maintenance once every 10 days against blood-sucking insects (ticks, lice, fleas). Constantly lead the fight against rodents;
- do not carry out house-to-house slaughter and sale of pork without conducting an ante-mortem inspection and conducting a veterinary and sanitary examination of meat and slaughter products by specialists of the state veterinary service;
- do not buy live pigs and livestock products in places of unauthorized trade without veterinary accompanying documents, do not import pigs and pig products from other regions without the consent of the state veterinary service;
- be sure to provide the pig population for veterinary examination, vaccinations (against classical swine fever, erysipelas, teshena) and other treatments carried out by veterinary specialists;
- do not throw away animal corpses, waste from their maintenance and processing in landfills, roadsides, do not bury them in your garden or other land. Do not attempt to process the meat of dead or forced slaughtered pigs - this is prohibited and may lead to further spread of the disease.