The Nikopol City Council reported an outbreak of African swine fever in the Kryvyi Rih district of the Dnipropetrovsk region. The disease was recorded on June 30 in the village of Vakulove.
The pathogen poses no threat to humans. However, the disease is fatal and untreatable for pigs. The virus can persist in the environment for a long time and spread rapidly under favorable conditions.
Symptoms and course of the disease
The disease often develops without visible signs — in such cases, the first signal for the owner is the sudden death of the animal. If symptoms do appear, pigs exhibit fever, shortness of breath, vomiting, depression, loss of appetite, severe thirst, immobility of the hind limbs, and dark burgundy spots on the skin surface.
Routes of spread
Infection occurs through contact of healthy animals with sick ones. The virus is also transmitted through infected feed — particularly heat-untreated food scraps of animal origin — as well as through water, care equipment, transport with traces of secretions from sick animals, carcasses of dead pigs, and products from infected animals. Domestic and wild animals, birds, rodents, and insects can be carriers.
Biosecurity measures
Experts urge pig owners to strictly adhere to biosecurity measures to prevent the introduction of infection into private farms. It is recommended to keep animals in enclosed premises without contact with other species, and to care for them only in special changing clothes and with separate equipment.
Pigs should not be fed heat-untreated food scraps of animal origin. It is also not recommended to allow unauthorized persons into livestock premises or to buy animals without veterinary documents from unverified sources.
