African swine fever outbreaks continue in Europe, Africa

At the end of August, the veterinary authority in Kenya reported to the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) the first outbreak of African swine fever for more than 3 years. The disease was diagnosed in a subsistence farm in Central state in July. Eleven of the 21 pigs died. Swill feeding on the farm is suspected as the source of the infection.
The first outbreak in Russia was in January 2014, and the veterinary authority reported 20 new outbreaks during August 2015.  Half of the new outbreaks were in 43 wild boar that tested positive for the virus after being shot or found dead. Locations were in forests and national parks in the oblasts Ryazan, Yaroslavl, Volgograd, Oryol and Pskov and in the Kabardino-Balkar Republic in the North Caucasus. The largest herd of domestic pigs to be affected during the month was in Krasnodar Krai, where 659 pigs died or were destroyed due to the disease. There were also 7 outbreaks in backyard and village herds in Bryansk, Ryazan, Oryol and Saratov oblasts, which led to the death or destruction of a further 132 pigs.
After an outbreak of African swine fever at a large farm in the region of Kiev at the end of July, investigations in Ukraine moved to a slaughterhouse in Poltava oblast, where some of the 277 pig carcasses tested positive for the virus and all were destroyed. In the Brovarskiy district of Kiev oblast, 300 wild boar have been killed and destroyed in order to prevent the spread of the disease through depopulation. One village pig died of African swine fever in the Kiev region during August. In Rivne oblast, which borders Belarus in the northwest of the country, 97 wild boar were destroyed during another depopulation program after 2 domestic pigs were affected earlier in the month. Quarantine measures in both these districts have now been lifted. The northeastern oblast of Sumy, there had been no detections of African swine fever since December 2014 but in August, it was reported that two wild boar had tested positive for the virus and that 308 pigs on a farm had been destroyed after the disease had been confirmed as the cause of death in two other animals.
Poland has reported 3 further cases of wild boar infected with African swine fever over the past month, all in the Podlaskie district, which borders Belarus and is under restrictions to prevent the further spread of the disease.
With their first outbreaks in 2014, the Baltic states have continued to battle the disease during the past month.
During August, Lithuania reported a further 15 outbreaks, which resulted in the death or destruction of 25 backyard pigs and 5 wild boar in central and eastern regions of the country where previous cases have been detected.
Neighboring Latvia reported 39 outbreaks during the third week of August, all in wild boar in a total of 15 counties in the north and east of the country. In all, 48 animals were affected. In previous weeks of the month, the OIE received reports of a further 105 outbreaks at various locations, mainly affecting wild boar. Three small herds of domestic pigs in the counties of Salacgrivas and Daugavpils, totaling 32 animals, were also destroyed following confirmation of the virus.
Weekly reports during August from the authorities in Estonia record 81 outbreaks occurring in several regions in the east and centre of the country. In addition to 4 backyard herds, 7 farms were hit by the disease, including one with more than 11,000 animals. In all, more than 17,500 domestic pigs were affected in these outbreaks and 89 wild boar also died or were destroyed.