Source: Vincent ter Beek, Pigs Progress, 16 July 2021, photo credit: Archyworldys.com
African Swine Fever (ASF) has now reached the domestic pig population in Germany. The virus was found on 3 small farms in Brandenburg state in Eastern Germany.
The confirmation of the finding was revealed this week. The national reference laboratory Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut (FLI) confirmed the finding in 3 sites, 1 in Spree-Neisse district and 2 in the Märkisch-Oderland district. Both are located in the direct vicinity of the border with Poland.
he farm in the Spree-Neisse district is the largest of the 3 and had 200 pigs on-site which are all being culled. The farm is located close to the village Preschen, at roughly 10 km from both the border with Poland as well as Germany’s Saxony state. According to the leading German agricultural title Top Agrar this was an organic pig farm with the possibility for the sows to go outdoors. The virus was detected in a dead pig as part of routine monitoring. So far it is unclear how the virus actually managed to get into the organic farm.
Top Agrar quoted Henrik Wendorff, president of the Brandenburg farmers’ association, saying: “According to our information, the operations manager has always complied with the requirements of the responsible veterinary office with regard to the prescribed biosecurity measures.”
At the 2 Märkisch-Oderland locations, just a few pigs were kept. On July 15, the 1st report came from a location in Kienitz-Nord with 2 pigs. Two days later, a location was confirmed with 4 infected pigs. According to a press release by the Brandenburg ministry for Social Affairs, Health, Integration and Consumer Protection (MSGIV) all 4 pigs were infected and 2 had died.
The 3 infected farms constitute the first that have been found infected with ASF virus in Germany. The virus has been around in Germany since September 2020 when the infection pressure from neighbouring Poland grew too strongly. In Poland the virus has been existing since 2014, a situation that got aggravated when a new ASF cluster popped up in Eastern Poland in November 2019.
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