African Swine Fever Status in Europe

Abstract

African Swine Fever (ASF) is a highly contagious disease that affects the domestic pig and wild boar population. The aim of this study was to describe the introduction and spread of the ASF virus in Western Europe (1960–1995) and in Eastern Europe (2007–2018), with particular emphasis on the current ASF situation in Poland and its challenges and future perspectives. The first ASF outbreak in Europe was reported in Portugal in 1957, with the virus spreading over most of Western Europe over the next 30 years. In Eastern Europe, the virus was first observed in Georgia in 2007, from where the disease spread quickly to other neighboring countries, reaching Poland in 2014. Since then, there have been 3341 confirmed cases in the wild boar population in Poland. Although there have been no confirmed cases of wild boars coming into contact with domestic pigs, the first notified case concerning domestic pigs was reported in July 2014. Since then, there have been a total of 213 confirmed outbreaks of ASF on Polish pig farms. Given the virulence of the ASF virus and the myriad of transmission routes across Europe, the monitoring of this disease must be a priority for Europe.

Evolution of the ASF Infection Stage in Wild Boar Within the EU (2014–2018)

“…Wild boar in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland have been affected by African swine fever (ASF) since 2014, following the spread from other Eastern European countries where the disease had been expanding since its first occurrence in this part of the world in 2007. ASF continued spreading within the European Union (EU), affecting the Czech Republic and Romania in 2017, Belgium, Bulgaria, and Hungary in 2018, and reaching the backyard pig population of Serbia and Slovakia in 2019 (1,2). Despite the surveillance and control actions taken in the EU, ASF has continued to spread.…”

The potential anti- African Swine Fever Virus effects of medium chain fatty acids on in vitro pig feed and water models

“…African swine fever (ASF) is one of the most important viral diseases of wild boar and domestic pigs, causing signi cant socio-economic losses in affected countries [19]. Depending on host characteristics and the circulating viral isolate, clinical signs may vary from the highly lethal form with 100% mortality to sub-clinical and a clinical form [9,[19][20][21]. Since the developed vaccines against ASFV have been failing to induce effective protection, it is reasonable to evaluate antiviral agents against this virus [7,8,10].…”

The Risk of Infection by African Swine Fever Virus in European Swine Through Boar Movement and Legal Trade of Pigs and Pig Meat

“…The epidemiological situation of ASF has changed rapidly over the last few decades. Historically, the disease was mainly present in the African swine population but, after entering Portugal in 1957 likely due to swill feeding with contaminated food waste, it became endemic in the Iberian peninsula and several linked outbreaks were observed in Italy, France, Malta, Belgium, and the Netherlands during the following years (12). Apart from Sardinia, where the disease continues to persist until now, ASF was considered completely eradicated from Europe in 1995.…”

“…However, in 2007, outbreaks were reported in domestic and wild boars in Georgia, the first time outside of sub-Saharan Africa in many years (1). The virus introduction was probably caused by the import of contaminated meat from Madagascar or Mozambique (12). Despite the effort to contain and eradicate the disease, ASF spread progressively to other countries in the Caucasian region such as Armenia, Azerbaijan, and the Russian Federation in [2007][2008] (12,13).…”