African swine fever spreads to Russia

  • 2014-02-05
  • From wire reports, RIGA

African swine fever has spread into Russia, the federal service for veterinary and phytosanitary surveillance Rosselkhoznadzor has said

Traces of African swine fever were found on a farm in Bryansk Oblast, where the necessary quarantine measures are now being taken.

Russian authorities believe that the disease has been caused by pork brought into Bryansk Oblast from Tula Oblast, where an outbreak of African swine fever was reported on a large pig farm. There, too, precautionary measures are continuing.

The virus has been spreading in Russia since 2007; hundreds of thousands of pigs had to be slaughtered in Russia so far.
Yesterday, "Rosselkhoznadzor" head Sergei Dankvert said that Russia's ban on pork imports from the European Union in the wake of the swine fever outbreak in Lithuania could be lifted in two months at the earliest, whereas the ban on pork imports from the Baltic countries could continue for three years.

Latvian government has allocated a total of over one million euros from the state budget's emergency funds to the Finance Ministry, the Agriculture Ministry and the Interior Ministry for African swine fever prevention measures.

African swine fever has never been registered in the territory of Latvia.