The Central Veterinary Laboratory of Algete (Madrid) has confirmed a new positive for African swine fever (ASF) in a wild boar killed near where the first infected animal was, bringing the number of cases to 27 and the number of outbreaks to ten since the start of the epidemic, the Ministry of Agriculture announced on Friday. This is a symptomatic animal that was killed in the high-risk zone demarcated within a radius of six kilometers around the first case, but this time in the municipality of Sant Cugat del Vallès and not in Cerdanyola del Vallès like the previous ones, although the two border.
The detection of this outbreak required modification of the municipalities included in the infection zone within a radius of 20 kilometers around the outbreaks. The municipalities of Begues and Gavà, in the Baix Llobregat region, and those of Olesa de Bonesvalls and Subirats, in the Alt Penedès region, have been incorporated, according to the updated note from the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAPA).
Furthermore, nearly 200 animal carcasses found dead in the natural environment or on roads and railways in the infected zone and its surroundings, within a radius of 20 kilometers around the first outbreak, were analyzed, with negative results.
Checks carried out on the 55 pig farms located within a 20 kilometer radius continue without detecting any symptoms or injuries linked to this disease, said the MAPA.
These findings are the result of “intense” field work carried out by the Corps of Rural Agents of the Generalitat, the Military Emergency Unit (UME), the Mossos d’Esquadra, the Nature Protection Service (Seprona) of the Civil Guard and the local Police. This is why “intense” work continues to search for wild boar carcasses and capture animals in the infected area, as well as to strengthen isolation, fencing and control measures in wild boar use corridors.
Furthermore, the installation of new barriers in the high-risk zone is being evaluated to try to reduce “as much as possible” the possibilities of wild boars moving towards the most peripheral part of the infected zone, according to the MAPA.
Central and regional administrations reiterate the need to maintain a high level of alert, with high biosecurity measures both on farms and in wild boar populations.
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