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Review
. 2019 Mar 30;11(4):310.
doi: 10.3390/v11040310.

African Swine Fever Status in Europe

Przemyslaw Cwynar  1   2 , Jane Stojkov  3 , Klaudia Wlazlak  4
Affiliations
Review

African Swine Fever Status in Europe

Przemyslaw Cwynar et al. Viruses. .

Abstract

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.

Keywords: African Swine Fever; Poland; domestic pig; wild boar.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Distribution of pigs by the type of pig farm in the EU in 2014. Source [36].
Figure 2
Figure 2
Domestic pig population (average number per km2) in Europe. Adapted from [37].
Figure 3
Figure 3
Wild boar population (average number per km2) in Europe. Adapted from [18].
Figure 4
Figure 4
ASF situation in Europe (December 2018). Adapted from [40,41] (with the authors’ own elaboration).
Figure 5
Figure 5
ASFV areas in Poland with a view of four infected voivodeships (December 2018). Adapted from [40] (with the authors’ own elaboration).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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