Inside Pigs
Huge leap west fuels fear of AVP
Another major setback in the fight against African swine fever (ASF) in Germany. The disease was diagnosed in a wild boar near Meißen in the state of Sachsen, west of Dresden. That is more than 60 kilometers outside the existing cordoned off zones and fuels fears that the virus may have already spread further than thought.
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The infection has now been confirmed by the Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut. The animal was shot as part of a monitoring program. Wild boars (apparently healthy) outside the cordoned off areas are shot and preventively examined for the presence of the ASF virus. The fact that an apparently healthy boar appears to be infected so far outside the existing zones is therefore very worrying. The swine fever has now spread almost 100 kilometers into Germany.
Numbers are now continuing to rise
The numbers have also steadily increased in recent weeks within the cordoned off areas. In September, a record number of pigs was diagnosed with ASF: 258 heads. Of these, 180 were identified in Brandenburg and 78 in Saxony.
