ASF Germany: First case on a farm Rhineland-Palatinate state

African Swine Fever (ASF) virus has emerged on a small pig farm in the state Rhineland-Palatinate. It is the first time the virus emerged on a farm in that state.

The virus was detected on a farm with 13 animals near the town Bad Dürksheim, on August 15. The virus was confirmed by Germany’s reference laboratory Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut.

The detection makes it the 9th farm in West-Germany infected this summer. Ever since the virus emerged in wild boar in this area near Frankfurt-am-Main, the virus spread amongst the wild boar population, now having infected 151 wild boar and 9 farms, of which 8 are located in Hesse state, with in total 3,976 pigs on-site.

Updated figures by the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) now show that the largest farm in Hesse state, near the town Trebur, had 2,419 animals on-site. An earlier report by WOAH spoke of barely 1,000 pigs, but often exact details tend to trickle through slowly at the international organisation. State reports as well as local media did immediately speak of the farm having 2,000 pigs.

In western Germany, the virus has now affected wild boar in 3 states:

• Hesse (110 wild boar)
• Rhineland-Palatinate (40 wild boar)
• Baden-Württemberg (1 wild boar)

ASF virus has been in Germany since 2020. Until this summer, the virus only existed in the states adjacent to Poland, in the east.

Tags: ASF, Germany, wild boar, Virus, African Swine Fever