African swine fever: increased surveillance in Moselle and Bas-Rhin

France announced on Tuesday that it had raised the level of surveillance for African swine fever in Moselle and Bas-Rhin to prevent the introduction from Germany by wild boars infected with this deadly disease for pigs. “Given the recent progression of ASF (African swine fever) in wild boars in Germany, the ministry has this week raised the surveillance of ASF – to level 2B of the wildlife surveillance network – in the departments of Bas-Rhin and Moselle,” the Ministry of Agriculture said.

This network includes 4 levels of surveillance. Level 2B allows for “mobilizing more field actors” to increase reports of wild boar carcasses, their collection and analysis in areas bordering an infected zone. According to the latest bulletin from the French animal disease surveillance platform, dated September 10, “the case closest to the border with France remains 78 km away.”

Pressure from the agricultural world

This reinforced surveillance has also been active since January 2022 in the Hautes-Alpes, Alpes-de-Haute-Provence and Alpes-Maritimes bordering northern Italy, which is also affected. This reinforcement of surveillance comes after agricultural unions urged the authorities to organize mass hunts to eliminate “all wild boars” near the German border to prevent the spread of the disease.

In its press release, the ministry states that it is “in contact with representatives of hunters to achieve optimal regulation of wild boars on the border with Germany, as is done in the Paca region”. Not transmissible to humans, African swine fever (ASF) is a viral hemorrhagic disease with a mortality rate close to 100%. No vaccine is available.