African swine fever detected in Belgian wild boars

By Stephen Cadogan

African swine fever has jumped across Europe, having been confirmed in wild boars in Belgium.

African swine fever (ASF) was found last week in three dead wild boars and one live wild boar (which was put down and disposed of), in the forest at Etalle, Luxembourg, a province of southern Belgium, near the borders with France and Luxembourg.

It is only 60km from the border with Germany, which has nearly one fifth of the EU’s 150 million pigs.

ASF is almost always fatal for pigs but poses no danger to humans.

Limited outbreaks occurred in Belgium (1985) and the Netherlands (1986) and were successfully eradicated.

Where ASF is confirmed, EU legislation requires that all infected and exposed animals are killed, carcases safely disposed of, premises disinfected, and surveillance and strict control be carried out on movements of pigs and pig products.

Irish farmers and their EU colleagues are under notice to report immediately to the Department of Agriculture if they suspect the presence of the disease.

Though there is no treatment or vaccine, ASF can be successfully eradicated if the disease is detected early and controls are rapidly introduced. EU veterinary emergency teams are ready to deploy rapidly to “hotspots” to advise on disease management.

ASF has never occurred here in Ireland; like the UK, we can hope that being surrounded by water will help to keep it at bay.

The Department of Agriculture says illegal importation of meat infected with the ASF virus, and subsequent feeding to pigs, is the main risk pathway for the introduction of ASF into Ireland, and the Department’s awareness campaign focus is to prevent this happening.

Minister for Agriculture Food and the Marine, Mr Michael Creed said: "it is vital that biosecurity measures are reviewed, that unauthorised persons do not have access to pigs at any time, that food waste is not fed to pigs and that all workers on pig farms are fully aware of the necessary biosecurity measures."

Since 2014, ASF has spread in the EU through Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, and in August, Bulgaria (despite Bulgaria erecting an 81-mile fence at the border with Romania to stop wild boar, and increasing luggage checks at the border).

China, home of the world’s biggest pig herd (estimated at 500m), confirmed its first outbreak in August (which is similar to the virus strain in Eastern Europe).

There are concerns that water from rivers contaminated with pig or wild boar carcasses has contributed to some of the ASF outbreaks. This method of transmission had never been proven before, but it is being investigated by EU veterinary authorities.