Spread to Northern Russia Heightens Concerns about African Swine Fever
Spread to Northern Russia Heightens Concerns about African Swine Fever
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization recently reported the detection of African swine fever (ASF) near St. Petersburg, Russia.
ASF, which is not a threat to human health but can be extremely deadly in swine, is believed to have killed about 6,000 pigs in the first half of 2009 and led to the culling of about 42,000 additional pigs. While this may not be an unusually high number of cases, the latest finding is very significant because for the past several years the disease had apparently been confined to the Caucasus region of Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan, as well as neighboring areas of southern Russia. However, St. Petersburg is more than 1,200 miles to the north and west of this region, which raises fears that ASF could eventually spread into Europe, central Asia or even China.
If recent ASF outbreaks in Russia are as widespread as available information indicates, they could represent a significant setback to Russia’s goal of attaining self-sufficiency in pork production.
There is no vaccine for the disease, so countries are being advised to heighten their early detection and response efforts. USMEF is monitoring the situation closely and will report additional information as it becomes available.
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The U.S. Meat Export Federation (www.USMEF.org) is the trade association responsible for developing international markets for the U.S. red meat industry and is funded by USDA, exporting companies, and the beef, pork, corn and soybean checkoff programs.
For more information, contact Jim Herlihy at jherlihy@usmef.org.
USMEF complies with all equal opportunity, non-discrimination and affirmative action measures applicable to it by contract, government rule or regulation or as otherwise provided by law.
Spread to Northern Russia Heightens Concerns about African Swine Fever
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization recently reported the detection of African swine fever (ASF) near St. Petersburg, Russia.
ASF, which is not a threat to human health but can be extremely deadly in swine, is believed to have killed about 6,000 pigs in the first half of 2009 and led to the culling of about 42,000 additional pigs. While this may not be an unusually high number of cases, the latest finding is very significant because for the past several years the disease had apparently been confined to the Caucasus region of Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan, as well as neighboring areas of southern Russia. However, St. Petersburg is more than 1,200 miles to the north and west of this region, which raises fears that ASF could eventually spread into Europe, central Asia or even China.
If recent ASF outbreaks in Russia are as widespread as available information indicates, they could represent a significant setback to Russia’s goal of attaining self-sufficiency in pork production.
There is no vaccine for the disease, so countries are being advised to heighten their early detection and response efforts. USMEF is monitoring the situation closely and will report additional information as it becomes available.
# # #
The U.S. Meat Export Federation (www.USMEF.org) is the trade association responsible for developing international markets for the U.S. red meat industry and is funded by USDA, exporting companies, and the beef, pork, corn and soybean checkoff programs.
For more information, contact Jim Herlihy at jherlihy@usmef.org.
USMEF complies with all equal opportunity, non-discrimination and affirmative action measures applicable to it by contract, government rule or regulation or as otherwise provided by law.