African swine fever: 5 questions and answers
African swine fever is a contagious, viral disease that affects domestic pigs and wild boar, leading to high mortality. It does not affect people. First detected in the early 1900s in Africa, the disease has spread to countries in Asia and Europe.
As a prevention-focused animal health company, Boehringer Ingelheim is keeping a close eye on the spread of the disease. It also is working to create a vaccine, a difficult undertaking that can take years.
Here are some basic questions and answers about African swine fever:
Why do so many people worry about African swine fever?
African swine fever is a viral disease that can have serious production and economic consequences for the swine industry, including potential export bans on pigs and pork products from affected countries.
After its emergence in Africa in the early 1900s, the disease spread through much of sub-Saharan Africa and parts of Europe, South America and the Caribbean, but mostly had been eradicated outside Africa by the 1990s, researchers say.
In 2018, an outbreak in China led farmers to cull an untold number of pigs, according to news reports, injecting uncertainty into a country where pork is the main source of protein. By mid-2019, the virus had spread in other parts of Asia, Africa and Europe and led to significant shortages of meat, lost profits for farmers and an increase in prices for consumers.
In 2021, African swine fever was detected in the Dominican Republic and Haiti, the first detection in North America in 40 years.
Although there has never been a known case in the United States, the disease’s rapid spread indicates that we must remain vigilant to prevent an outbreak. If African swine fever were to hit the U.S., pork exports to other countries most likely would stop – and the National Pork Board estimates that could cost the U.S. pork industry as much as $8 billion a year.
No treatment or effective vaccine exists for African swine fever. It has proven difficult to control transmission of the disease. Often, movement restriction and herd depopulation are necessary control measures because of how quickly and easily the virus spreads.
Is African swine fever dangerous to humans?
African swine fever does not affect humans. It is not a public-health threat or a food-safety concern.
Why is African swine fever hard to eradicate?
There are numerous ways pigs can contract the disease. ASF can be spread through ticks, live or dead pigs and pork products, contaminated feed and by humans. In fact, humans can carry the virus on their shoes or clothing, which means traveling from a country that has African swine fever to one that does not could lead to new outbreaks without proper biosecurity practices.
The disease is highly contagious and spreads quickly through herds. It can survive days on contacted surfaces like vehicles or equipment, for weeks in raw meat and months in frozen meat products. It has an incubation period of 5-21 days, and infected animals do not always show clinical signs of the virus but can continue to shed the virus for an extended period.
What is the U.S. doing to keep African swine fever out of the United States?
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is focused on prevention as outbreaks continue to spread across the globe. The U.S. also is working with Canada and Mexico on a coordinated North American approach.
The U.S. government has strict animal-health and import requirements that seek to prevent entry of African swine fever into the United States. For example, the USDA and Customs and Border Protection is training and using beagles at airports and seaports to sniff out food products that may contain the virus that causes ASF. Travelers who have been to affected countries may also receive extra inspections before entering the U.S.
Out of an abundance of caution following the detection of African swine fever in the Dominican Republic, USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) announced preparations to establish a Foreign Animal Disease “protection zone” in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
APHIS has also worked with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency to develop a protocol to help ensure bilateral trade will continue if African swine fever is detected in feral swine in either country. The protocol seeks to protect swine populations during an outbreak of ASF in feral swine while minimizing the impacts on the trade of live swine, swine products and other swine commodities.
USDA is working with the U.S. pork industry to promote awareness to pork producers by encouraging them to ramp up biosecurity measures on farms. Finally, the department is working to develop accurate and reliable testing procedures to screen for the virus in grains and feeds as well as swine oral fluids.
What is Boehringer Ingelheim doing about African swine fever?
Boehringer Ingelheim is working to develop a vaccine, a difficult undertaking that can take years. Boehringer Ingelheim also is working with farmers to encourage strong biosecurity measures on their farms.
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