Jan 7 (Reuters) – African swine fever, a deadly hog disease,
has been found in a wild boar in Italy’s Piedmont region, the
regional government said in a statement on Friday.
Tests confirmed the disease in a dead boar in Ovada, located
about 120 km southwest of Milan in northern Italy, the statement
said.
African swine fever is harmless to humans but often fatal to
pigs, leading to financial losses for farmers. It originated in
Africa before spreading to Europe and Asia and has killed
hundreds of millions of pigs worldwide.
The discovery in Italy could be a blow to the country’s meat
producers as governments often block imports of pork products
from countries where the disease has been found as a way to
prevent transmission.
China and other pork buyers banned imports of German pork in
September 2020 after the first case was confirmed in wild
animals in Germany.
The Piedmont regional government asked city mayors to stop
hunting following the discovery. Wild boar can transmit the
virus to other pigs.
The government also said it is raising its surveillance of
wild boars and hog farms and increasing cleaning measures on
farms as much as possible.
“As in the case of the (COVID-19) pandemic, the African
swine fever emergency must also be addressed by appealing to
everyone’s collaboration,” said Piedmont’s health deputy, Luigi
Icardi, in the statement. “Piedmont health system is working
alongside operators in the sector to prevent the circulation of
the virus and protect swine farms.”
In China, the world’s biggest pork producer, African swine
fever destroyed half the hog herd within a year of being
detected there in 2018. Last year, Haiti and the Dominican
Republic confirmed the first outbreaks in the Americas in nearly
40 years.
(Reporting by Caroline Stauffer and Tom Polansek in Chicago and
Joice Alves in London; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
(([email protected]; https://twitter.com/tpolansek))
Keywords: ITALY SWINE FEVER/
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