African swine fever in the Republic of Crimea in 2015–2018

During the analyzed period of 2015–2018 number of pigs kept on backyards and in agricultural organizations as well as number of wild boars living in the Crimean lands declined by 25.34% and 26.09%, respectively, due to African swine fever introduction. In 2016–2018, ASF epizootic situation in domestic pigs and wild boars was the most complicated in the Sovetsky, Razdolnensky, Belogorsky Raions and in Sudak municipality, respectively. The unauthorized burials of dead domestic pigs, which could have caused the dangerous disease agent introduction into the wildlife were detected. Number of tests for ASF carried out within both passive and active monitoring increased during the said period: 527 tests were carried out in 2015 and 7,754 tests were carried out in 2018. In 2018, ASF virus was detected with polymerase chain reaction (PCR) in 8 samples of pathological materials from wild boars, that was 0.1% out of total number of the samples tested in the FGBI “ARRIAH” Branch in the Republic of Crimea and FGI RC “Regional State Veterinary Laboratory of the Republic of Crimea”. Large-scale diagnostic tests performed in domestic pigs and wild boars contributed to rapid diagnosis of outbreaks and disease eradication. It should be noted that in case of ASF occurrence in domestic pigs only, the disease could be eradicated with a complex of anti-epizootic measures in initial outbreak areas. Absence of the disease in the Crimean Peninsula during the last years proves the effectiveness of the measures taken for ASF spread prevention.

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