By Alice McFarlane

New outbreaks of African Swine Fever reported in Southeast Asia and Eastern Europe.

May 12, 2023 | 4:06 PM

Deadly pig disease continues to spread

Swine Health Information Center Executive Director Dr. Paul Sundberg said ASF has spread to another Indonesian island as well as into Greece.

“There’s another outbreak that’s been identified in Greece. This is in a commercial farm in Greece versus the small production system that was infected in 2020,” Sundberg said. “The assumption is, this is a spillover from wild boar that border next to Greece, and that continues to move down into Greece from Eastern Europe.”

Hungary has made good progress limiting the spread of ASF, but Sundberg says there have been issues with illegal shipments of pork into the United Kingdom

“The UK has identified a variety of different, fresh and frozen pork products coming into UK retail marketplaces from countries that are endemic with ASF that should not be allowed to export those products into the UK,” he said. “The UK found it and they’re trying to address it, but it’s an example of risk.”

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Sundberg said those types of products, whether legal or illegal, are always higher risk because if they get in contact with pigs there’s a risk of the transmission of ASF getting established in otherwise free areas.

There are some promising developments and research for a safe and effective ASF vaccine. Sundberg said it has been shown to be safe in pigs. It has also been shown to be effective in stopping an outbreak.

“I think the vaccine being used in response to an outbreak holds a lot of promise. If we can tamp down an outbreak and we have the opportunity to remove it, to eliminate it from the area, at least we have the opportunity to do that,” Sundberg said.

Unfortunately, a vaccine to prevent the development of ASF is still a long way down the road, according to Sundberg.

“The use of vaccine at this point is probably not in our near future at all. We can’t tell the difference of the antibodies between an ASF infection and a vaccine. Therefore, if a pig is sero positive in areas where they would otherwise be negative there could be confusion about whether or not that’s an actual infection that we’re seeing or it’s the use of the vaccine,” he said.

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alice.mcfarlane@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @farmnewsNOW