ASF in Germany: update

The number of African Swine Fever (ASF) cases in the German state of North Rhine Westphalia has risen to five. Four additional carcasses of wild boars were found not far from that of a young adult infected with the virus. The first dead boar was found in a forest near Kirchhundem as part of the wild boar monitoring programme. Testing by the Friedrich-Loeffler-Institute (FLI) has confirmed that all the dead boars were killed by the ASF virus. In response to the outbreak, authorities created an “infected zone” with a 15 Km radius around the sites where the dead animals were found, including the territory of three districts (Olpe, Hochsauerland, Siegen-Wittgenstein). All pig farms located in the zone are subject to restrictions. No other suspicious carcasses have been found so far, despite intensive searches.