ASF Sweden: Number of infected wild boar rises to 41

All infected animals were found within the zone that has been identified as the “infected area.” The carcasses are found in an area in the county Västmanland, about 145 km north west of the capital Stockholm. The zone in which the carcasses are found has a radius of just under 3km.

The Swedish authorities test many wild boar, and also continue to come across animals as well as carcasses that are free from ASF virus.

Late last week, the area was visited by an expert group from the European Union, to share experiences from outbreaks elsewhere in the EU.

At the website of the Swedish National Veterinary Institute, state epidemiologist Dr Karl Stahl commented: “It has been very valuable to have them here and we are grateful that they could come. The feedback we have received has been that we have acted entirely according to the available knowledge in order to have the best chance of fighting the disease. They were impressed by the fantastic cooperation we have with the hunters in the area, the sampling centre that has been built and the database that SVA has developed so that we can follow carcasses all the way from when they are discovered in the forest to when we report the results to international organisations.”

He continued to say, “At the same time, we received valuable recommendations that we will take with us in the further work, for example how to think in relation to search efforts based on how wild boar behave when they are dying, and what the timetable for the various parts of the combat efforts should look like.”