European taskforce addresses spread of African swine fever
10/09/2019
The impact of the current global ASF crisis is a major concern to the swine industry, putting the livelihood of many smallholders at stake and destabilsing the global market of pork products.
In the Europe, the ASF virus was introduced to Georgia in 2007 and spread northwards through Russia, Ukraine and Belarus, then reached Lithuania in January 2014, quickly followed by Poland, Latvia and Estonia, before hitting Moldavia in 2016.
The most recent appearance of the disease started in 2017 with an active spread mainly southwards reaching the Czech Republic, Romania, Hungary, and Bulgaria. The virus was discovered in Belgium in 2018, then in Slovakia and in Serbia in August 2019.
During the last two weeks of August, 18 countries and territories notified new or ongoing outbreaks, including 11 in Europe (Belgium, Bulgaria, Hungary, Latvia, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia and Ukraine).
“The recent spread of the virus in South East Europe constitutes a serious threat to the Balkan countries and territories,” said the European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety, Vytenis Andriukaitis, “and should trigger immediate action at national level to significantly raise the level of awareness on African Swine Fever and to address the situation. Priority actions with neighbouring countries should also be defined in a collaborative manner, preparedness being key for the control of this disease.”
The virus has appeared in places where it was not expected, for instance in the Czech Republic in June 2017, more than 500 km away from the closest affected zones (Poland and Ukraine); or in Belgium in August 2018, approximately 1000 km from the nearest infected area in Poland.
Dr Monique Eloit, OIE director general, added: “To stop the spread of such disease for which we do not have vaccine, coordination, collaboration and experience sharing between all stakeholders are essential, at national level but also regional and international level. The control is possible when everyone applies and respects the rules so that the disease does not become endemic, as demonstrated by the success of Czech Republic and Belgium.”
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