Italy registers African swine fever in 78 municipalities in the north of the country

A few months after multiple outbreaks of bird flu were detected in Italy, which has already led to the death of more than 13 million birds -mainly chickens and turkeys- Italy is now dealing with an outbreak of African swine fever (ASF). The new outbreak has been detected first in the city of Ovada, in the Piedmont region (north), where the analysis of two local zooprophylaxis institutes on the remains of a wild boar revealed that the specimen died precisely because of this disease, harmless for humans but deadly for animals, since in addition it is highly contagious.

The first case was registered last week, and other cases have already been detected suspects in 78 municipalities, of which 54 are located in Piedmont and 24 in Liguria, two Italian regions located in the north of the country. All this has already led to the regional administration in Piedmont asking the mayors concerned interrupt hunting activities, as a measure to stop the spread of the pest. In addition to this, farms have also been asked to maximize biosecurity controls, particularly in transport and of domestic wild boars and pigs.

“As with the pandemic, this is also African swine fever emergency It has to be tackled with the collaboration of everyone & rdquor ;, commented the Head of Health of Piedmont, Luigi Genesio Icardi. “We have to increase the attention of the institutions, also in the European Union (EU), to protect zootechnical production and the economy of our companies, so that the regions can act urgently & rdquor ;, added the regional president, Alberto Cirio, and the head of Agriculture, Marco Protopapa.

“A strong fear is also due to the image damage that this situation could entail by becoming a tool for economic speculation, hitting our farmers & rdquor ;, Roberto Moncalvo, representative of the Coldiretti agricultural union, has commented to Italian media. .

Because of the pandemic

One aspect that worries, they added, is that the situation comes after the number of wild animals soared in recent times. The alert, in fact, was launched precisely by Coldiretti last June. The association collected information on the wild boar population in Italy, and reported that had grown 15% during the pandemic, up to 2.3 million copies. With this, an economic damage of “at least 200 million euros” was estimated for agriculture. And the main reason, they explained, would have been the pandemic, which reduced human activities in wild areas.

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The phenomenon, as has also occurred in other European cities -and in Spain-, has already led to curious situations, such as the image of groups of wild boars walking quietly, for example, through the streets of Rome, and even approaching schools and residences . One case, this one, which received disproportionate attention from the Italian media – and was the subject of countless ‘memes’ -, particularly after the Italian actor Massimo López uploaded a video on the networks in the summer who said that he had been attacked by a wild boar. “I was going to throw out the garbage, the boar followed me and then started running after me,” said the actor.

African swine fever, which is different in origin from classical swine fever, is an infectious hemorrhagic disease caused by the DNA virus of the Asfarviridae family, which particularly affects pigs. Its danger lies in the fact that there is no approved vaccine, since 2007 there have been outbreaks in Asia, Africa and Europe, and it is spread both through live and dead animals. In addition, the virus, according to current studies, can last for years in frozen meat.