New Case Of Swine Fever Outbreak Confirmed In Germany

Photo illustration (Kameron Kincade / Unsplash)

JAKARTA - Two cases of African swine fever (ASF) have been confirmed again in the State of Brandenburg, East Germany. This was confirmed by the Ministry of Agriculture, Thursday, October 1.

The cases take the total to 40 since it was first reported on September 10. Everything happens to wildlife.

The latest findings, confirmed by Germany's Friedrich-Loeffle science institute, are in the area of the first case. The day before, Wednesday, September 30, one case was also found in a new area which is about 60 kilometers from the location of the first case.

The ministry earlier warned of the potential for more swine fever cases, given the disease is highly contagious. China and a number of other consumers banned imports of pork from Germany in September after the first cases were confirmed, causing pork prices to soar.

The disease is harmless to humans, but fatal to pigs and is a major epidemic in China, the world's largest pork producer. Meanwhile, where in Asia swine fever disease has a major impact on global pork trade flows.

The Brandenburg state government says it is actively searching for the dead wild boar in both areas, with teams in the field and in the forest and drones also deployed to assess the extent of the disease's spread.

The first examination of the bodies of wild boars showed it was possible the animal died from the disease eight to ten weeks ago, so swine fever could have entered Germany in early July, he said.

German pork prices have been unchanged since plunging on September 11 in hopes that Spain, the Netherlands, Denmark and other EU countries will ramp up pork sales to China and elsewhere in Asia in lieu of supplies from Germany, where demand in the European Union is already being met. .