African swine flu – sharing best practices is critical to stop spread

According to experts from EFSA, sharing best practices in fighting African swine fever is critical to halt the spread of the disease. These include early detection methods and rigorous emergency measures.

EFSA experts assisted Baltic countries and Poland in the analysis of epidemiological data collected up until September 2017. The disease is continuing to spread among wild boar.

In 2017, two additional EU Member States – the Czech Republic and Romania – reported cases bringing the number of affected Member States to six.

Experts concluded that despite concerted efforts to stop the spread of African swine fever among wild boar, humans have played a critical role in spreading the disease (for example through the disposal of contaminated waste in wild boar habitat).