Poland: 1st ASF outbreak pig farm in 2020
The first ASF outbreak in 2020 was designated on a commercial farm in the west of Poland where 23 746 pigs (6904 sows, 16037 piglets, 776 weaners and 29 boars) were kept. The farm is located in Niedoradz, in the Otyń commune, in the Nowosolski district, in the Lubuskie province. Piglets and weaners were produced on the farm, no fattening pigs were kept. The Veterinary Inspection has implemented all procedures for eradicating the outbreak.
The farm is located in an area subject to restrictions (the so-called "red zone"), listed in Part II of the Annex to Commission Implementing Decision No. 2014/709/EU. In the Lubuskie province, the restricted area was established in November 2019, after finding the first case of disease in wild boars. In Nowosolski district 146 cases of ASF in wild boars boars were found in the period from November 2019 to date.
As it can be seen on the map above, the affected farm is located app. 68 km from the German border (in the straight line), in the area of high density of identified ASF infected wild boars. Recently the finalization of work on the fence built by the German states at the Polish-German border has been reported, however, the first outbreak in the commercial farm is worrying to German authorities.
Pig producers’ organisation (POLPIG) emphasizes that high virus pressure in the environment weakens all biosecurity activities introduced in the farms. The pressure of the virus in the environment was so great that even a well-protected farm was unable to defend itself against the penetration of the disease into the herd of pigs. Unfortunately, the principle that only biosecurity will limit the spread of ASF in pig farms is not enough anymore. In parallel, measures must be taken to reduce the presence of the virus in the environment: (i) the collection of fallen wild boars and (ii) the reduction of the wild boar population – claims the POLPIG.
It is worth recalling that in 2019, 48 outbreaks of African swine fever were confirmed throughout the country. The smallest of them occurred on a farm keeping only two pigs, while the largest in a herd of nearly 9.5 thousand animals. The first ASF outbreak was noted on 29 January 2019 in a backyard farm in Warminsko-mazurskie province. The commercial farm with over 1700 pigs was affected later in May 2019 (2nd outbreak in 2019), also in Warminsko-mazurskie province.
The noticeable conclusion is certainly the large decrease in the number of new outbreaks in 2019, as compared to 2018 (then, in the country, ASF occurred in as many as 109 herds of pigs). Although the number of the outbreaks was smaller, the number of dead or slaughtered animals was much higher. In 2018, as a result of outbreaks of the disease, losses amounted to over 25.000 pigs, whereas the number for 2019 is 35.357 culled pigs. The conclusion that comes from this is that ASF is less and less the domain of small herds, and more often the outbreaks occur in large herds of pigs. To some extent, this is certainly due to the elimination of many small herds, but this proves the thesis that with high virus pressure in the environment, protecting pig farms against virus penetration is not an easy task. The first outbreak in 2020 seems to confirm that conclusion.
Source: Polish Veterinary Service, farmer.pl