Following the case of African swine fever in a barn in Belarus, further cases have now been found in wild boars on the opposite side of the border in Latvia. At the same time, further cases have been discovered in the immediate vicinity on Russian territory.
It must be assumed with high probability that swine fever is massively virulent in the wild boar population in this area.
This is the African form of swine fever, which is many times more deadly than the European variant.
The new findings increase the infection pressure of a possible further spread on European soil.
There are no vaccines against African swine fever. Therefore, should the disease spread to pigsties, large-scale culling will be necessary.
In the case of European swine fever, culling has been dispensed with and a vaccine is used instead, despite some reservations. The problem with vaccination is that it may mask the actual pathogen.
Further cases of swine fever have been reported in the southern part of Russia.
