African swine fewer - spreading the disease in Europe and preventive measures taken in the Republic of Serbia

Abstract

African swine fever (ASF) is a viral, contagious disease of domestic pigs and wild boars of all breeds and ages, members of Suidae. The causative agent is DNA virus, genus Asfivirus, a member of family Asfarviridae. African swine fever is enzootically present in sub-Saharan Africa, where the virus for decade back circulates in the wild boars and domestic pig population. On the European continent, taking into account the past few decades, the presence of the disease has been confirmed in the Iberian Peninsula and Sardinia. Eradication of ASF in Europe was done in the late 1990s and until 2007, the disease was not detected. In the following year, the disease was diagnosed in Georgia from which ASF spread to the Russian Federation, and the surrounding states (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Ukraine and Belarus). In 2014, the disease has been reported in Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Poland, 2016 in Moldova. In mid-2017, the disease was diagnosed in the Czech Republic and in Republic of Romania and lately in 2018 in Hungary, Bulgaria and Belgium. Having in mind that ASF was in 2017 and 2018 for the first time diagnosed in the domestic swine and wild boar population of the neighborhood countries (Romania, Hungary), the Veterinary Directorate of the Republic of Serbia ordered the implementation of a set of control, preventive measures to be applied in the country but also at border crossings. The special Expert Group, National Center and Decision-making Team for Movement Tracking, Prevention and Control ASF were established. The aim of the paper is to review the spreading disease in Europe and to present the applied control measures in the Republic of Serbia in order to try to prevent disease occurrence and protect swine production sector.