HEAL ▶▶▶TH
ASF is a growing problem for Poland
Where Belgium seems to have won the battle against African Swine Fever, Poland does not seem to be able to get a grip on the virus. The number of cases in the west of the country continues to rise. For Germany, this is a reason to build a robust, permanent fence that will prevent wild boar getting in.
BY KEES VAN DOOREN, SENIOR REPORTER, BOERDERIJ A
ASF positive wild boar November 2019 December 2019 January 2020 February 2020 March 2020 April 2020 May 2020 June 2020 July 2020
39 99
269 304 281 222 87 40 15
TOTAL 1356 Source: Pig Progress, based on OIE/GVI
12
frican Swine Fever virus (ASFv) is well established in Poland and is a constant threat for pig produc- tion elsewhere in northwestern Europe, predomi- nantly for Germany. Earlier this year, the virus was
confirmed just over 10.5km from the border with Germany. The virus has been in Poland since 2014, but until last year it only occurred in the east of the country. In November 2019, however, the virus was also found in the west of Poland. In the meantime, dead wild boar have been found in three western provinces, Lubusz, Lower Silesia and Greater Poland. By July 2020, the number of places where infected wild boar had been found had risen to 961, with 1,826 victims that had tested positive for the virus (see Table 1). In addition, four farms were found to be infected in western Poland by
Table 1 – Number of wild boar tested positive for ASF, until July 20, 2020.
Lubusz Lower Silesia
2 0 0 0
11 17 4 2 0
36 Greater Poland 1 27
125 140 55 56 16 10 4
434
mid-July – two commercial farms and two backyard farms. It is quite logical that the pig industries in northwestern Eu- rope are keeping a close watch on what is happening in Cen- tral and Eastern Europe – the economic consequences could be disastrous. As soon as the virus has been detected in a giv- en country, the meat exports to major countries in Asia will most likely be temporarily cancelled. China alone will buy roughly 10% of pig carcasses, estimated meatpacker Vion. In the first quarter of 2020, Germany exported 730,000 tonnes of pork and by-products. Of that volume, at least 188,000 tonnes went to China. If exports to China drop for a long time, that will certainly be reflected in the pig price – and it will have a knock-on effect for the Netherlands and Denmark, for example, which both export weaner pigs to Germany.
Overwhelmed by the virus The Polish General Veterinary Inspectorate (GVI) is responsi- ble for fighting ASF, in both wild boar and domestic pigs. The service will deal with ASF according to the rules of the Polish authorities as well as the European Union. According to Dr Krzysztof Jażdżewski, ASF expert within the GVI, it is under- standable that fighting the virus in his country does not ap- pear to be effective, although the Czech Republic has become free of the virus and so will Belgium most likely later this year (see page 8). Poland, he said, has been infected at least three times from abroad, which immediately caused a lot of wild boar to be in- fected, spread out over a large area. Also, twice there has been a anthropogenic jump inside the country over a consid- erable distance – which led to, for example, the cluster in western Poland. Jażdżewski says that, because of the rapid and wide spread, Poland wasn’t able to fence off a limited zone, eventually shoot the wild boar inside that zone and conduct proper surveillance for carcasses of ASF victims, as happened in the Czech Republic and Belgium. In both those countries there was “spot introduction” of the virus – an out- break which stayed local. ASF is present in one third of the Polish land area. The Polish philosophy is currently focused on shooting as many wild boar as possible, preferably females. In areas with novel infec- tions, the Polish speak of “intelligent hunting”. That means as much as shooting as many wild boar as possible around the infected areas, to prevent that the virus can spread. At least
▶PIG PROGRESS | Volume 36, No. 6, 2020
PHOTO: IWANA MARKOWSKA-DANIEL
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