BELGRADE (Serbia), August 26 (SeeNews) – Serbia’s Institute of Veterinary Medicine has confirmed 12 new outbreaks of African swine fever (ASF) in domestic pigs, all in villages near Mladenovac, in the central part of the country, the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) said.
The disease was detected in 13 pigs in the villages of Velika Krsna and Rabrovac, about 60 km south of Belgrade, in the period between July 31 and August 5, OIE said last week, citing a report of Serbia's agriculture ministry.
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Three of the pigs with detected African swine fever infection had died, while a total of 138 out of 141 pigs susceptible to the disease in the two villages were culled and disposed of, OIE said.
The source of the outbreak is unknown or inconclusive, the organisation noted.
On August 11, Serbia reported four suspected outbreaks of the disease among backyard pigs which later were confirmed by the EU Reference Laboratory for African swine fever in Spain on August 13.
As a result, Serbia's neighbours Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia and Montenegro banned the imports of pork from the country, while Croatia's agriculture ministry said it adopted precautionary measures to preserve its status as ASF-free country, as well as to provide for the early detection of the virus' entry in order to immediately prevent it from spreading.
Last week, Serbian agriculture minister Branislav Nedimovic said Bosnia has allowed the import of some types of pork from Serbia and that the Serbian government expects North Macedonia and Montenegro to do the same soon.
Serbia's eastern neighbour Bulgaria has confirmed outbreaks of African swine fever in a total of seven industrial pig farms in the country since July.
Romania, a neighbour of both Serbia and Bulgaria, suffered a nationwide African swine fever pandemic which prompted the slaughter of most farm pigs. Serbia's northern neighbour Hungary also confirmed African swine fever outbreaks in 2018.
The African swine fever virus does not cause disease in humans but has high mortality rates in domestic pigs. The disease, which also affects wild boars, has been spreading in Eastern Europe in recent years.