Haiti, 1978-1983: Total eradication
As the Dominican Republic shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti, it is no surprise that the virus also travelled across the border to Haiti. Animals first started dying in the Artibonite Valley, which runs east– west across the middle of Hispaniola, in the fall of 1978. By then it was clear what a danger it was, and a large part of the pig population start- ed dying – some sources mention about two-thirds of all pigs in the country. That is mostly because, unlike in the Dominican Republic, most pigs were kept in family conditions, that is, under poorly developed circumstances. As in the Dominican Republic, it was clear that total eradication of the pig herd would be necessary. Haiti had roughly 1.4 million pigs at the time and, just as now, in 1978 it was not a particularly rich country. In addition, other North American countries, afraid of the virus hopping from Haiti to the mainland, acknowledged the poten- tial hazard and stepped in to cover the cost of the eradication. Canada, Mexico and the USA therefore jointly paid for the eradication through a spe- cial programme: the Project
Cuba, 1980: Local depopulation
For the completion of this overview, this article returns to Cuba – the only country in the Americas to have faced an outbreak of ASF twice. After its eradication in 1971, the virus was found again in 1980 on the other side of the island, in the easternmost provinces Guantánamo, Holguín and Santiago de Cuba. In total, 56 outbreaks were found. Cuba, having 1.4 million pigs in 1980, opted for a similar approach as in 1971, total depopulation in the three affected provinces, culling 137,000 pigs. This approach succeeded, as by August 1980 the virus had disappeared. Leader of Cuba, Fidel Castro, pointed the finger at the CIA, stating that it had been biological warfare. Here the view of researcher Raymond Zilinskas matters. He pointed
out that this type of reac- tion by the Cuban authori- ties was fairly common with all kinds of outbreaks happening in Cuba. Zilin- skas found a different ex- planation, given by Fidel Castro himself in 1980. It sounds like a more probable reason as to how the virus had arrived in Cuba in 1980. He wrote: “We think it is probably attributable to a phenomenon that has been growing over recent years, and which is the dozens of boat- loads of Haitian immigrants that have set out for the Bahamas, for the United States and other parts; and in come these boats, often in bad shape and without fuel. Some of them have even been shipwrecked. They lie off the north coast and the south coast. Sometimes they’d be carrying live animals and food, etc., and given the health conditions of the country that’s a risk even to public health.” The total economic impact of the virus outbreak has been estimated to be US$9.4 million, includ- ing lost animals, compensation paid, campaign expenses and export losses.
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for Eradication of African Swine Fever and of the Development of Pig Pro- duction, better known by its French abbreviation Peppadep. In total over 384,000 pigs had to be culled at a com- pensation cost of US$ 9.5 million, wrote Franz C.M. Alexander of the Or- ganization of Eastern Caribbean States, Jamaica, in 1993. Haiti’s presi- dent declared the country free of ASF on 28 April 1982; Peppadep was closed in 1983. The effects of the eradication were longlasting, as repopulation took years. An additional unforeseen side effect was the extinction of a typical Haitian pig breed, the Creole pig, a landrace that was well adapted to local conditions. In recent years, there have been attempts to re-breed a pig similar to the Creole pig.
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