Many ASF infections in Polish pig farmers

In Poland, African swine fever (ASF) has been diagnosed at a large number of farms in recent weeks, including at farms close to the border with Germany. Also in Germany the number of boars found with ASF continues to rise rapidly, a third company has now also become infected.

In the first half of 2021, the ASF situation on Polish pig farms seemed better under control. At that time, infected animals were found on only 2 farms. In recent weeks, however, the number of infected farms has risen rapidly. In 2021, 23 companies have already been affected by the virus disease.

Company at 10 kilometers German border infected
For Germany, the detection of an infection on a farm with 25 pigs in the Polish region of Lebus is the most worrying. The company where AVP was established is located just 10 kilometers from the German border, near the German provinces of Brandenburg and Saxony. In the Greater Poland region, a larger pig farm with 1.900 animals was affected. Both companies and the pigs within 1 kilometer of the sources of infection have been culled.

German situation not stable either
After the discovery of 2 infected farms last week, a third infection in kept pigs was also confirmed last weekend. The farmer concerned kept 4 pigs that were kept in a stable.

Meanwhile, the high numbers of wild boars found also give little cause for optimism. In the first 3 weeks of July, ASF was already detected in 173 wild boars, according to the report overview of the Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut. Of these boars, 142 were found in Brandenburg and 31 in Sachsen. Throughout the month of June, 242 ASF-infected boars were found.

* Boars diagnosed with ASF infection are sometimes passed on to the Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut at a later date. Numbers can therefore still rise.

Steve Wissink

Stef Wissink is an editor at Boerenbusiness and writes about current market developments in the dairy and pig market. He also follows Dutch and international agribusiness.

s.wissink@boerenbusiness. Nl

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