No vaccine or treatment
High fever, loss of appetite, skin lesions are some of the symptoms. There is no vaccine or treatment. Up to 100% mortality can be observed.
The virus is present in all bodily fluids and very resistant. It can survive for more than two months in meat and sausages from affected animals. It is transmitted from one animal to another, by the consumption of infected foodstuffs – for example if domestic pigs are fed with leftovers – or by contact with any contaminated support (boots, vehicle wheels).
Since January 2020, cases have been reported in 35 countries across five continents, with more than 1.1 million cases in domestic pigs and more than 32,000 in wild boars, according to the World Organization for Animal Health ( GOOSE).
At the scale of the affected farm, all pigs are slaughtered. Congeners from neighboring farms are usually also to avoid the spread. The OIE describes the virus as a “global threat”.
China, Germany…
In 2018-2019, the ASF had decimated the Chinese livestock, one of the pillars of the country’s diet. Since then, China has rebuilt its herd at exorbitant prices.
The pig market has been very disrupted since Germany declared its first cases in wild boars in September 2020. Then the leading pig producer in Europe, the country immediately lost its disease-free status and saw a large number of “third countries” (excluding EU) close their doors to its pork products. As a result, surpluses and a fall in prices.
States strive to negotiate “regionalization” agreements so that their free zones can continue to export.
France, the third European producer behind Spain and Germany, has signed such an agreement with China, which hopes to reduce the economic impact of an appearance of ASF on its soil provided that Brittany, the main region breeding, is spared.
France unscathed since the 1970s
France experienced sporadic outbreaks in 1964, 1967 and 1974 but has since been unscathed. The national pig industry experienced a big scare from September 2018, when cases were detected in Belgium. Fences have been put up to prevent wild boars from crossing the border. Belgium has since regained its free status.
In January, northern Italy was affected in turn, with outbreaks less than 100 km from France. “We may have less risk of seeing wild boars crossing the border because there are the Alps between the two”, remarks Gilles Salvat, deputy director general of the research center of the health agency Anses.
