News African swine fever
How did Belgium become infected with African swine fever?
It is still a mystery how African swine fever ended up in Belgium last September. All this time, the country held on to 2 options, but now a third option seems to have been added: Zaventem airport.
A piece of meat intercepted at Zaventem airport has tested positive for African swine fever. Investigative bodies in Belgium are therefore now taking into account a third possibility of the virus sneaking in: the (illegal) import of meat from wild animals from Africa. According to the news site Sudinfo.be this could explain the outbreak in the province of Luxembourg.
Souvenir
In some African countries, meat from wild animals (including crocodiles, porcupines, lemurs, lizards, antelopes and monkeys) is invariably on the menu. Tourists often take these products, also known as 'bushmeat', home as souvenirs. Figures even show that between 40 tons and 120 tons of bushmeat are imported annually via the airport in Zaventem.
As a result of these figures, the Federal Public Service for Health, Food Chain Safety and Environment in Belgium has started an investigation at Zaventem airport into bushmeat from African countries. During that study, a piece of meat has now tested positive for African swine fever.
Other possibilities
Previously, only 2 possibilities were held: the wild boars are infected by eating infected meats or wild boars have been illegally imported from Eastern Europe. Although it is still not clear how the animal disease ended up in Belgium, it has already been established that the virus has traveled a distance of more than 1.000 kilometers.
Kimberly Baker
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