News item | 02-07-2022 | 20:33
In the German town of Emsbüren, in the federal state of Lower Saxony, Landkreis Eemsland, a pig farm has been diagnosed with African Swine Fever (ASF). The company with 280 sows and 1500 piglets is located approximately 15 kilometers from the Dutch border, east of the province of Overijssel. The infection was confirmed on 2 July by the state of Lower Saxony. The company will be cleared on Sunday and contact companies will be investigated. A protection zone of 3 km and a security zone of 10 km have been established around the company, in which a transport ban applies and where companies are screened.
The established surveillance and protection zones are not located on Dutch territory. The Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality asks pig farmers to be extra alert to the symptoms of African swine fever in their pigs and to strictly comply with all veterinary regulations and biosecurity measures. It is also important that other parties in the pig sector also observe all appropriate biosecurity measures, including the mandatory second cleaning and disinfection of means of transport used for transporting even-toed ungulates to Germany and returning to the Netherlands. It is important for visitors to nature reserves or companies that they do not leave any pig products in nature or at a pig farm.
The Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA) is currently working on a risk assessment and is making an inventory of transport movements across the border. The Ministry of LNV is in close contact with all parties involved to monitor the situation and will take additional measures if necessary.
The Netherlands has had a wild boar monitoring program for some years now. In this monitoring, blood samples from wild boars are examined for the presence of African swine fever (ASF). There is also an NVWA protocol for reporting and sampling found wild boar cadavers. In this protocol, dead wild boars are sampled by special staff of the fauna management units. Persons who find a dead wild boar can report this to the forester, police or land owner. These persons contact the staff of the fauna management units. As a result of the contamination in Emsbüren, migration routes of wild boars in the border area through the province of Overijssel are being monitored more intensively for dead wild boars.
Given the distance from previously infected sites, it is likely that the outbreak in Emsbüren is the result of human activity. African swine fever is present in wild boars in eastern Germany. In June, a company in Baden-Württemberg became infected. Today, an infection was detected at another company, in Brandenburg. This company is located much further from the Dutch border.