News Pigs
Swine fever in North Rhine-Westphalia is a new variant
The cases of African swine fever that have recently emerged in wild boars in Germany's North Rhine-Westphalia - the count is now at five - are caused by a different variant of the virus than was previously found in West and East Germany, the Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut (FLI) has determined.
The new variant resembles ASF viruses from the Italian region of Calabria, according to the institute. "These Italian variants show specific changes, which were also found in the new variant from North Rhine-Westphalia, which clearly distinguish them from other previously known ASF viruses," the FLI said in a press release.
Sausage sandwich
This would mean that the virus is not advancing from other areas. North Rhine-Westphalia's Agriculture Minister Silke Gorissen told broadcaster WDR that "there is a good chance that the outbreak is due to human behavior," such as throwing away a pork sausage roll in the woods.
There are more than 5.100 pig farms in North Rhine-Westphalia. The outbreak area is approximately 150 kilometres from the Dutch border.
Linda van Eekeres
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