There is no treatment for the disease, some versions can have a 100% mortality rate in certain circumstances. It is not the same as swine flu.
How does it spread?
ASF can be transmitted through direct contact with infected animals. Wild boar have been identified by some national governments as one of several possible culprits for the recent spread. It can also spread via insects such as ticks.
But the virus can also survive several months in processed meat, and several years in frozen carcasses, so meat products are a particular concern for cross-border transmission. It is believed that the disease was initially brought from east Africa to Georgia by contaminated pig products. Last week, a packet of sausages confiscated at a Japanese airport from a traveller arriving from China were found to contain the virus. Similar discoveries have been made in South Korea, according to reports.
What happens when it is found?
Cases must be reported to the authorities. In most countries, this will trigger quarantine measures and a cull of the affected herd. However, there is anxiety among experts that in some cases farmers – or even whole countries – may cover up or delay reporting the illness. In May, for example, Belarus was accused of covering up ASF among its pigs. The Belarus government denied the claims.
No way to stop it': millions of pigs culled across Asia as swine fever spreads
Can it be caught by humans?
Humans cannot contract ASF. However the head of the Russianepidemiology service, chief state sanitary doctor Gennady Onishchenko, has warned that pig physiology is close to human physiology, and that future mutations of the virus may therefore become dangerous to human beings too.
Why are people worrying about it now?
For many years ASF was found mainly in Africa, although there was an outbreak in Europe in the 1950s which took several decades to eradicate. In 2007, however, the virus was detected in Georgia, and despite co-ordinated efforts it has since spread widely, initially through eastern Europe and Russia, and more recently into western Europe, when wild boar in Belgiumwere found to have the disease. The virus has now jumped to China, home to half the world’s domestic pigs, and appears to be proliferating rapidly. According to one report there have been 41 outbreaks since the first notification in early August.
The UK government is monitoring the situation. Zoe Davies, head of the National Pig Association, has said that it may take years for ASF to reach the UK but points out that big jumps are possible. Earlier this year, she said: “I’ve had sleepless nights after seeing Polish lorry drivers barbecuing their supper in a layby. Pigs will eat anything – and in this country around 40% are reared outside. If those drivers had thrown their leftovers over the hedge, the consequences could have been disastrous.”
There is great concern in the US, too, where the pig export market is worth $6.5bn (£5bn) annually. Biosecurity measures are being stepped up and US government officials are drawing up a rapid response plan.
What other countries are concerned?
National governments around the world are now ramping up precautions in order to protect their domestic pig industries. Denmark has been planning to build a wall to keep out boar for some time now, and France is now also making plans for a wall along parts of the Belgian border. Germany has relaxed laws on wild boar hunting as part of its plans to prevent the disease breaking out.
Are there any vaccines or cures on the horizon?
The Roslin Institute is looking at gene editing to make pigs resistant to ASF. An international coalition of scientists is urgently investigating vaccines.
'It’s not if, it’s when': the deadly pig disease spreading around the world
The pig industry is certainly extremely anxious about ASF. If it is detected in another major pork-producing country like Denmark, Germany, Spain or the US, “the pig mortality will be the least of our worries”, according to US expert Dennis DiPietre. “The business disruption and profit losses from export cessation would range from big to staggering,” he says. DiPietre fears that, within a year or two, “we will be engulfed in a worldwide pandemic”.
