Inside Pigs
Record number of German ASF cases again in July
The spread of African swine fever (ASF) continues and seems far from under control. In July, another record number of infected boars were found and last week infected animals were found in at least 2 places outside the core zones that had already been deposited.
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While the situation seemed to calm down somewhat in April and May, this is no longer the case. For the second month in a row, monthly infection numbers are breaking records. Moreover, the first cases in farmed pigs were diagnosed a few weeks ago and infected boars are regularly found in places where no sick animals had previously been found.
Another record number of infections
In July, a record number of infected pigs was again found, after the largest number of sick animals to date was confirmed in June. In total, the virus was diagnosed in 322 pigs: 319 times in wild boars, and 3 times in farmed pigs. Of these cases, 234 were found in the province of Brandenburg and 88 in the province of Saxony. Compared to May, the number of identified cases has increased by more than 150%. In May, 'only' 127 infected pigs were found.
New regions infected
Last week, infected pigs were also found in at least two places that had previously been free of the animal disease. This includes an area in the Barnim region (north-east of Berlin). Until last week, this region was completely free of ASF. After the find, 2 people intensively searched at least 150 hectares of land. No further cases have come to light. The region relies on volunteers for search operations.
Also in the Märkisch – Oderland region (where many infected animals have already been found), animals infected with ASF were identified outside the fenced off locations. Geographically speaking, the spread in Germany is now enormous. The distance between the northernmost and southernmost cases is already around 225 kilometers.