A New Outbreak of African Swine Fever in South Ossetia and Georgia

November 24, 2010 — 

According to the Agriculture Department of the [Republic of] South Ossetia, mass death of domestic pigs was registered in the Republic regions bordering Georgia. More that 200 animals died, and the dead and infected animals had signs characteristic of African swine fever [ASF]. The diagnosis of ASF was made according to the laboratory studies of samples taken from dead and infected pigs from Tebota and Garistav settlements of the Zanurskiy Region and the Orchosan settlement of the Leninogorskiy Region. Today [17 Nov 2010] mass deaths of pigs were registered in Georgia, so its territory has been quarantined.

According to the Territorial Administration of the Rosselkhoznadzor for the [Republic of] North Ossetia-Alania, no cases of pig deaths or infections have been registered in the territory of the regions bordering South Ossetia.

A special meeting of the Commission on Prevention of ASF in North Ossetia-Alania has been held and measures aimed at prevention of introduction of the infectious agent into the Russian territory have been defined.

[Editor's note: The USDA Agricultural Research Service has re-instated a limited ASF research effort at the Plum Island Animal Disease Diagnostic Center as a result of the continued spread of this disease. The previous research project was discontinued in 2003 to fund the Homeland Security take over of the Plum Island facility. During a presentation to the Transmissible Diseases of Swine Committee at the 2010 USAHA meeting, Dr. Luis Rodriquez, ARS Research Leader, Foreign Animal Disease Research Center, indicated that the current diagnostics are capable of accurately diagnosing the circulating strains of ASF but there remains no effective vaccine or treatment. Unfortunately, no additional funding was directed to support the renewed research program therefore this places an additional burden on an already inadequate foreign animal disease research budget.-Ed. HS]

Source: Rosselkhoznadzor (Russian Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance) News, epizootic situation; [edited]