SHIC Reports Further Global Expansion of ASF and FMD

The Swine Health Information Center reports an escalation of African Swine Fever cases in South Korea, an expansion of Spain's ASF high risk zone and a Foot and Mouth Disease outbreak in Cyprus.

As part of its March eNewsletter, the Swine Health Information Center has released its monthly global and domestic swine disease surveillance reports. SHIC Associate Director Dr. Lisa Becton says ASF and FMD continue to be active globally.

Quote-Dr. Lisa Becton-Swine Health Information Center:

African Swine Fever has seen an increase in South Korea. There's been at least 20 outbreaks as of mid-February spanning across seven different provinces.
ASF eradication has been declared in Saxony, Germany. Germany has not seen any detections for one year fulfilling the definition for eradication. In Spain the ASF zone has expanded due to continued wild boar detections.

However there's been no domestic pig cases identified to date. One area we still note significant challenges include the management of wild boar. Therefor it really is important to focus on how best to manage this population to reduce exposure to ASF virus but then also to eliminate or significantly reduce exposure of domestic pigs to wild boar.

Foot and Mouth Disease virus detection remains very active in the middle east and in other parts of the world. It continues to be a threat and there's multiple different strains that are identified in different regions. Foot and Mouth Disease virus is seen in Cypress and that continues. And there's been some key product seizures in the UK for products that were at ASF and Foot and Mouth Disease risks to the country.

Dr. Becton notes neither African Swine Fever or Foot or Mouth Disease have been identified in the U.S. so efforts should continue to focus on keeping them out. She says the biosecurity practices we use to keep out other viruses, like PRRS and PED, can be the same for African Swine Fever and Foot and Mouth Disease. The domestic and global swine disease surveillance reports can be accessed at swinehealth.org.