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Updated assessment on African swine fever in eastern Europe

CONTROLS implemented in Poland, Estonia and Latvia to control the spread of African swine fever (ASF) over the past winter appear to be working, and the disease has not spread into new areas, according to a recently updated outbreak assessment by the International Disease Monitoring (IDM) team at Defra/APHA. The team reports that, as a result of this finding and previous intensive surveillance, surveillance for ASF is being reduced, particularly in Poland. The IDM team continues to monitor the disease situation in eastern EU member states (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland) as more cases of ASF in wild boar have been reported. However, in its updated assessment, published on May 22, the team notes that there has been only one outbreak on a backyard farm in Poland (in January 2015) since September 2014. Also, it reports, there have been no outbreaks on any commercial premises since August 5, 2014, when there was a case in a small commercial premises in Latvia. Spread among wild boar has been limited, mainly within the zones in which ASF is established, although there have been ‘some small additions to the Part II control zone’. To date, the IDM team says, ‘over 400 wild boar cases have been detected within the restriction zones in all four affected member states, less than 40 backyard infected premises, one large commercial premises and a smaller commercial premises.’ Looking more widely, the team reports that the ASF situation in Belarus remains unclear as there have been no recent reports of outbreaks or cases of ASF despite border regions of neighbouring countries continuing to report cases of disease. The team notes that, as of May 12, Belarus has banned imports of pig products from the Kiev region of Ukraine, as well as the delivery of previously used equipment for keeping, slaughtering and butchering pigs. The ban was the result of a case reported on May 5 in which a wild boar that was found dead tested positive for ASF in the Grabov territory of Ukraine bordering Belarus. The team says that Poland and the Baltic states have stepped up border controls and have seized meat products entering the EU in transport and luggage which have subsequently tested positive for ASF. It reports that the PCR sequence identified in the products was very closely related to the serotype found in Belarus as opposed to the one that has been found in Russia. The Russian authorities have also reported detecting ASF viral genome in finished meat products originating in Belarus. The team warns that ASF outbreaks and wild boar cases tend to follow a seasonal pattern, with more reports in late spring to early summer, when populations of wild boar and backyard pigs are at their most dense. Also, at the same time, undetected, buried and frozen infected wild boar carcases can reinitiate the transmission cycle. There can be a second wave of cases in September to November, as male boar move to rut and pigs are culled for seasonal markets. ‘This seasonality however may not always be reflected in the disease reporting, which may follow hunting seasons and passive surveillance,’ the team points out. As far as the risk of ASF being introduced to the UK is concerned, the IDM team says that this is still unchanged and is considered to be ‘low’ (defined as ‘rare but does occur’). It reminds all pig keepers to be vigilant and to maintain biosecurity, including the swill feeding ban, and also to promptly report any clinical signs of suspected disease to a veterinarian.