ASF Germany: Recent outbreaks in NRW state related to Italy

A somewhat unexpected turn of events with regard to the ASF outbreak in wild boar in North Rhine Westphalia state: the recent emergence of the virus in wild boar there appears to be linked to Italy. In the meantime, 3 more suspicious wild boar carcasses have been found.

That remarkable message came from Germany’s reference lab Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut (FLI) this week. In a press release, the institute wrote, “As part of the virological examination of blood and tissue samples from wild boars from the outbreak of ASF in North Rhine-Westphalia, the FLI was able to determine the complete genome sequence.

A direct comparison with ASF viruses previously sequenced in Germany shows that the variant from North Rhine-Westphalia differs significantly from both the previously known western German cases (Hesse, Rhineland-Palatinate, Baden-Württemberg) and the variants from the eastern federal states (Saxony, Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania).”

The finding means that the recent virus outbreak in wild boar in NRW did not come from migrating wild boar but it was a “new” one-off infection.

In the Calabria area, in the deep south of Italy, the virus there was found in 17 wild boar and on 6 smaller farms. Altogether 559 pigs died there as a consequence of the virus and subsequent culling in 2023.

As Germany’s agricultural title Top Agrar reported on Tuesday, 3 more suspicious wild boar carcasses have been found, close to where the initial 5 were found. Tests are currently ongoing to verify if indeed the animals will test positive for ASF virus.

Tags: ASF, Germany, outbreak, wild boar, Virus, Italy, variant