Why the study?
African Swine Fever is a highly contagious disease affecting domestic pigs and wild boars, prompting a description of its introduction and spread in Western and Eastern Europe with an emphasis on Poland.
African Swine Fever continues to spread across Europe, with significant outbreaks in Poland highlighting the need for prioritized monitoring.
Ongoing ASF cases in Poland warrant sustained surveillance; leaves open optimal wild boar control strategies.
African Swine Fever (ASF) is a highly contagious disease that affects the domestic pig and wild boar population. The aim of this study was to describe the introduction and spread of the ASF virus in Western Europe (1960⁻1995) and in Eastern Europe (2007⁻2018), with particular emphasis on the current ASF situation in Poland and its challenges and future perspectives. The first ASF outbreak in Europe was reported in Portugal in 1957, with the virus spreading over most of Western Europe over the next 30 years. In Eastern Europe, the virus was first observed in Georgia in 2007, from where the disease spread quickly to other neighboring countries, reaching Poland in 2014. Since then, there have been 3341 confirmed cases in the wild boar population in Poland. Although there have been no confirmed cases of wild boars coming into contact with domestic pigs, the first notified case concerning domestic pigs was reported in July 2014. Since then, there have been a total of 213 confirmed outbreaks of ASF on Polish pig farms. Given the virulence of the ASF virus and the myriad of transmission routes across Europe, the monitoring of this disease must be a priority for Europe.
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Cwynar et al. (2019) studied this question.
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