Will the epidemic reach France?
35 free-range pigs have been slaughtered on a pig farm in Germany after an outbreak of African swine fever was discovered near the western border, the French agriculture ministry announced on Thursday.
The affected farm is located in Forchheim am Kaiserstuhl, six kilometers from the French border.
“No case has been identified at this stage within the wildlife in the surrounding area”, specified the ministry, which will launch a crisis unit “next week” with “all the professionals and services of the 'State ".
Since January, African swine fever has been circulating in wildlife in Italy, where an emergency plan to stem the virus in the Rome region, which has had eight cases since the start of the year, was launched.
This is the “first case highlighted on the western border of Germany (…) on the other side of the Rhine”, specifies the ministry.
In conjunction with the European Commission, a protection and surveillance zone has been set up by the German authorities, who will “intensify the search for wild boar carcasses and control the surrounding farms”.
Not transmissible to humans
The disease only affects pigs, wild boars and warthogs.
Not transmissible to humans, the virus can however survive for more than two months in meat and cold cuts from affected animals.
Swine fever is transmitted from one animal to another through the consumption of infected foodstuffs - for example if domestic pigs are fed leftovers - or through contact with any contaminated medium.
France experienced sporadic outbreaks in 1964, 1967 and 1974, but has since been unscathed.
In 2019, an epidemic hit Asia and several cases were identified in Belgium in particular.
Europe has been affected since this winter by a serious epizootic of bird flu and nearly 16 million poultry have been slaughtered in France since the end of November.