ASF Remains Most Concerning Global Disease Threat

The Associate Director of the Swine Health Information Center says the ongoing spread and resurgence of African Swine Fever remains the dominant global swine disease concern

As part of its January eNewsletter the Swine Health Information Center has released its domestic and global swine disease monitoring reports.

SHIC Associate Director Dr. Lisa Becton says this month’s report highlights events across six continents.

 

 “ASF still is the predominant disease that is being seen and a lot of countries have had both new infections and resurge infections.”

 

“ASF still is the predominant disease that is being seen and a lot of countries have had both some new infections but also resurging infections.

“There are about six different countries, notably Sweden included in that, that have had first time infections noted with African Swine Fever and so that continues to expand the footprint that ASF has globally and that’s a bit concerning.

“But also, as we look at other countries that have had ASF prior, there were five different countries that experienced resurgence of African Swine Fever in their pig populations and notable both in Italy and the Philippines just to mention a few, so definitely something to be aware of.

“There are other diseases that have been out there but, as a whole, looking at other pathogens such as Foot and Mouth even Nipah virus, those types of viruses actually showed a reduction so that part is at least a little bit of good news.

“But again, I think that this highlights that African Swine fever is still a big one that people are fighting. There’s also a lot of activity for Foot and Mouth Disease in Asia and in Africa.”

Dr. Becton says the first-time detection at the Taiwanese border of a recombinant strain of ASF identified in 2022, resulting from the illegal import of products from China, highlights the need for continued border protection and monitoring.

She suggests its up to all of us to ensure we don’t have products imported illegally by keeping up our education for incoming folks and monitoring at our own borders.