THOUSANDS OF PIGS CULLED IN ITALY TO CONTAIN AFRICAN SWINE FEVER

Tue 26 September 2023:

Last week, massive pig culls were conducted in Italy in an effort to manage the African swine fever (ASF) virus outbreak, which endangered the whole pig-farming industry and was the country’s largest outbreak since the 1960s, The Guardian reported.

The World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) states that ASF is lethal to pigs and a severe threat to the worldwide pig industry, but not a danger to humans.

Last week’s Italian culls saw almost 34,000 pigs killed after a cluster of outbreaks in Lombardy, a region known as Italy’s pork belt and one of Europe’s main pig-producing areas.

The virus, the WOAH said: “is highly resistant in the environment … [and can] survive on clothes, boots, wheels, and other materials. It can also survive in various pork products, such as ham, sausages or bacon,” meaning that “human behaviours can play an important role in spreading this pig disease across borders if adequate measures are not taken”.

As of May this year, 24 different variants, or genotypes, of the virus had been identified. WOAH said that mortality rates for pigs that contract the virus can be up to 100%.

Because there is no vaccine for ASF, said Francesco Feliziani, who leads Italy’s national reference lab for swine fever, culls to contain the disease were compulsory. The underlying problem, he said, “remains the presence of the virus in the wild boar populations”, which provides a reservoir for the virus.

“In Europe, the threat [of ASF] is very strong; the pressure of the virus is high and it seems inevitable that the disease will involve other domestic herds,” he said.

Experts from the Federation of Veterinarians of Europe said: “Since 2017, more than 2.3m pigs were lost due to ASF in Europe. Although it is harmless to humans, it can be deadly for pigs and has serious socioeconomic consequences for affected countries. As no vaccine exists yet in Europe, early detection, prevention and reporting are key to curbing this deadly disease. We all should take this seriously.”

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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