AVP spreads further through Germany and Poland

Polish authorities have confirmed that on May 26, a farm with 3.000 pigs in the Miedzychód district was infected with ASF. The company is located 110 kilometers from the border with Germany. Three more infections in wild boars have been detected in the immediate vicinity of the company. These cases were described as somewhat remarkable, as no infections had been reported in Greater Poland since September 3.

A search team is now intensively searching for any other infected wild boars in the area. The search includes the use of drones to observe areas that are difficult to reach. This is the second pig farm in Poland to be affected by ASF this year. An infection was previously detected on a large company in Lubusz, also located in western Poland, and no fewer than 16.000 pigs had to be culled there.

Germany
In Germany, in the period from 1 to 7 June, a total of 18 wild boars were found infected with ASF. Of these, 13 cases were found in Brandenburg and 5 in Saxony. German pig farms are still free of the animal disease.

Meanwhile, in Brandenburg, permanent fencing on the border with Poland is almost complete. When the work in this province is completed, there will soon be 250 kilometers of fencing on the German/Polish border.

New stricter restrictions were introduced in the core areas around the town of Frankfurt (Oder). For example, hunting is completely prohibited in both 'core' areas, which surround the city, and farmers are no longer allowed to use the agricultural land within these zones. This should prevent (infected) pigs from moving around unnecessarily. A spokesperson for the Ministry of Agriculture calls the approach relatively successful so far: no infections have been detected in commercially kept pigs and the disease has hardly spread further inland outside the border areas.

With the cooperation of Stef Wissink