ASF continues to spread, as Danish prevention technique shows early success

The global distribution of African swine fever two years after it first emerged in China is a pattern of “serious deterioration,” according to the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE).

The situation is especially urgent in Europe and Asia, Feed Strategy reported. OIE and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations recently called for international collaboration to stem the disease.

“Today, 51 countries are affected by African swine fever,” Matthew Stone, an OIE Deputy Director General, said in July. “Amid the difficult situation posed by COVID-19, ASF continues to spread, intensifying the current health and socioeconomic status crises.” Many countries that are affected by ASF lack sufficient human, financial or technical resources to rapidly detect, respond to and contain animal diseases, OIE said.

A new outbreak emerged recently in Zambia, involving 7,000 pigs, according to Feed Strategy. And in Nigeria, the disease is now in nine states.

Meanwhile, the Associated Press reported that Denmark is seeing signs of success from a prevention technique that originally seemed dubious.

Denmark officials last year built a 70-kilometer fence on the German border to keep wild boar from entering. Since then, the number of wild pigs in Denmark has fallen from 35-40 to fewer than 25, even though some piglets have been born in recent months, officials said recently. According to one official, while she couldn’t say whether the fence had stopped boars from entering, cameras along the border hadn’t seen many doing so.

Denmark is the only European Union member country where pigs outnumber people, according to the AP, with 215 pigs to every 100 residents.