The AFS epidemic is striking again in Slovakia
Almost a year after the first outbreak of African swine fever (ASF) in pig farm, the situation is repeated. In the Trebišov district in the village of Čierna, Slovak veterinary service recorded an ASF infection in two domestic pigs.
The ASF has hit a large part of Europe in a relatively short time. This infection was first confirmed in Slovakia on 25 July 2019 in the breeding farm of domestic pigs in the village of Strážne, Trebišov district. A little later, on 12 August 2019, the first information about the occurrence of the disease in wild boar caught in the same district was confirmed. To date, Slovakia has registered 216 cases of the disrease in wild boars. The ASF infection is located in four districts (Trebišov, Michalovce, Košice-okolie and Košice-mesto).
After 11 months from the last outbreak, on 10 July 2020, the situation is changing. In the village of Čierna (Trebišov district), two pigs were tested positively in a backyard farm. The infection was confirmed by the National Reference Laboratory in Zvolen.
The outbreak is in the village of Čierna, 1.5 km from the Ukrainian border and 2.5 km from the Hungarian border, where the disease has been confirmed in the wild boar population for a long time. 2 pigs were bred in the breeding. This is a non-commercial farm for the breeder's own consumption. Protection zones (3 km) were created around the outbreak - the village of Čierna and surveillance zones (10 km) in connection with the occurrence of ASF.
Immediately after the confirmation of the disease, the Slovak Republic informed the European Commission, the Member States of the European Union and submitted the report to the International Office of Epizootics (OIE) based in Paris.
In Slovakia, hunters were ordered to intensively hunt wild game, to which hunters hold responsibly. There is also an active monitoring of the situation by state veterinarians and hunters, to whom the state reimburses the costs of samples from wild boar found dead and caught. The veterinary laboratory in Zvolen is constantly investigating the submitted samples.
Source: Slovak Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development