ASF Germany: Infected wild boar up to 5 in NRW state

The number of cases of African Swine Fever (ASF) virus in wild boar in the populous German state North Rhine Westphalia state has gone up to 5 – up from 1.

The 4 additional carcasses were found close to the first wild boar carcass that was confirmed infected this weekend. That carcass of a young adult wild boar was found in a forest near Kirchhundem, district Olpe, as part of the wild boar monitoring programme.

The 4 other carcasses were found in the direct vicinity on Sunday 15 June. Testing and confirmation by Germany’s reference lab Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut (FLI) has now confirmed those 4 animals had also died from ASF virus.

North Rhine Westphalia is bordering both the Netherlands and Belgium, where the outbreaks have also led to local alarm – even though the outbreak has been detected 150 km from both borders.

According to the German agricultural title Top Agrar, there is also good news: other than these 5 carcasses, no further suspicious carcasses had been found immediately after the weekend, despite intensive searches with drones and dogs.

Tags: African Swine Fever, Germany, outbreak, wild boar, Virus