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African swine fever (ASF) was first detected in Germany. The animal disease was confirmed in a dead wild boar in the state of Brandenburg, near the border with Poland, as Federal Minister for Agriculture Julia Klöckner announced in Berlin on Thursday.
“Unfortunately, the suspicion has been confirmed,” he said. “African swine fever is harmless to humans.” Consumption of possibly contaminated meat does not pose any danger to humans. The epidemic is almost always fatal to pigs.
The corpse of the wild boar was found a few kilometers from the German-Polish border in the Spree-Neisse district. The Friedrich Loeffler Institute, which, as the German national reference laboratory, clears up suspected cases, provided the final proof. This means that Germany is losing its “disease-free” status.
Electric security fence at the border.
Bans on the export of pork to non-EU countries may now threaten, for example, Asia. Therefore, German farmers are very concerned about the economic impact.
For a long time it was feared that the animal disease would spread to Germany. African swine fever has been circulating in Poland for several months. In March, a wild boar that died from him was discovered just over ten kilometers from the border in the neighboring country to the east. The cause of the spread in Europe is suspected to be the illegal disposal of food waste containing the pathogen.
Brandenburg had erected a 120-kilometer electrical security fence on the border. It is supposed to stop the wild boars. A fence was also built on the Saxon border.
