African Swine Fever outbreaks continue near Moscow
The African Swine Fever (ASF) virus has been recently detected by specialists from Rosselkhoznadzor, in pathology samples taken from a boar found mid-June in the Lihoslavlsky area of the Tver region.
At present, specialists of the State Veterinary Service and the Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance Office (Rosselkhoznadzor) for the Tver and Pskov regions are carrying out numerous activities designed to prevent the spread of ASF with the aim of ultimately eliminating it. At the moment the specialists are trying to identify the possible infections pathways in the Lihoslavlsky area, where previously the virus was not detected. The State Veterinary Service is also currently conducting an estimation of all pig stock and all pig farms in the local villages.
This is the fourth outbreak of ASF in the Tula region over the past two months. Notably the outbreak of ASF was registered on June 15; on that same day quarantines installed during the previous two ASF outbreaks were lifted in the region. As a result regional governor Vladimir Gruzdev has banned the private purchase of new pigs in the most of the region until July 1, 2013. Also the pig farming in the region will also be severely restricted.
According to the employees of the regional department of Rosselkhoznadzor, the Tula region is currently considered to be Russia’s ASF hotspot.
Currently the department is preparing mass cull of the wild boars, from which the samples will be sent to veterinary laboratories in order to determine how bad the situation with the spread of ASF in the wild nature really is.
Source: Vladislav Vorotnikov
(picture: Wikipedia macrophage in early stages of ASF infection)
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