African Swine Fever has now reached Romania

Romania is the 6^th country in the EU to report an outbreak of African Swine Fever within its borders to the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE), Before, the virus was found in Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Poland and very recently, the Czech Republic. As Figure 1 shows, the virus has been creeping slowly west since it was first discovered in Georgia and Armenia in 2007.

Outbreak in northern Romania

The outbreak took place in Satu Mare, a town in northern Romania, about 5 km of the tripoint with both Hungary and Ukraine. The outbreak was discovered in a small backyard farm with 4 pigs. In total, 1 animal died, after which the other 3 were culled for sanitary reasons. Samples were sent to the Institute for Diagnostics and Animal Health in Bucharest, Romania for identification.

Last week, Hungarian officials reported their worries about the virus in Ukraine coming close to their borders. The country’s food safety authority NEBIH indicated that everybody should make sure to follow regulations to stop the spread of the virus. Humans are often said to be the main cause of the spread of the virus.

Czech Republic: Still at 62 outbreaks

In the meantime, outbreaks in the Czech Republic still stand at 62. In this case, all discovered cases were individual dead wild boars in forests.

Also Poland has seen an alarming growth of the numbers of outbreaks this summer. African Swine Fever has spread to 3 provinces and was discovered on a farm with more than 1,000 pigs late June.