From Romania to Germany… African swine fever spreads across Europe

African swine fever, a disease that is harmless to humans but highly contagious to animals, is spreading at an “alarming rate” in Europe, especially in the east of the continent, where a recent outbreak has raised fears of a wider spread of the virus. “The number of cases and areas recently affected by this disease is increasing despite efforts to control it, and countries are facing great difficulties in controlling and eliminating this disease,” said Gregorio Torres, head of the science department at the World Organization for Animal Health. . Since the beginning of the year, 285 outbreaks of African swine fever have been reported on European farms, with the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) reporting almost 71,000 cases as of 1 September. The virus is spreading mainly in the eastern part of the continent, in Romania (197 outbreaks), Moldova and western Russia, where five new outbreaks were detected on farms last week. The disease also appeared in Italy, on a farm in the Rome metropolitan area in early June, and in Germany in May and then in July, with two outbreaks in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Lower Saxony (Northern Saxony). About 2,800 farm animals were slaughtered. Despite being geographically close to the outbreak, France and the Netherlands have so far avoided the infection. Since there is no cure for African swine fever, it is generally deadly to animals and usually results in farm owners preemptively slaughtering the animals to prevent further spread of the infection.