ASF has reached Belgium. France is in state of alert
Belgian authorities are in a state of alert after two cases of ASF were confirmed this week on wild boar population in the country. The cases were reported in Etalle, a small town in the province of Luxembourg, not far from the French border.
The Food Agency, the national reference laboratory Sciensano and the Walloon Region met on September 13 in an emergency meeting to identify the measures to be adopted in a coordinated way in Belgium, informs AFSCA, the Belgian Federal Agency for Food Safety.
The fight against the disease is not a public health issue but an animal and economic health issue. Competencies are divided between the regional level for wildlife health and the federal level for the health of farm and domestic pigs.
In Belgium, field monitoring measures have been well implemented, allowing the most recent detection of suspected cases in some dead boars. Samples were taken directly and sent to Sciensano, who confirmed the disease.
Wildlife control and prevention measures within pig farms are now being implemented at the regional and federal levels, respectively, in a high-performance collaborative framework. Biosecurity in pig farms is essential and the AFSCA ensures that it is permanently properly insured.
"The Public Service of Wallonia - SPW - prepares measures to avoid as much as possible the dispersal of wild boars from the infected zone as well as the provisions relating to hunting.
The Department of Nature and Forests - DNF- has already strengthened vigilance and observation procedures", informs the agency.
The situation in the neighbouring country has triggered fast reactions in France, who is calling for protective measures, according to Fleischwirtschaft magazine. "The confirmation of the presence of the virus in Belgium represents a new progression of the disease, which requires an adequate response given the considerable economic interests at stake for the French agri-food chain", declared Stephane Travert, French minister of Agriculture.
ASF cases are also confirmed in Romania, Poland, Bulgaria, Hungary and the Czech Republic, the first two countries being the most affected by the outbreaks reported in pig farms.
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