Photo from UNIAN
Veterinary experts have reported new cases of African swine fever (ASF) in Vinnytsia and Mykolaiv regions, according to the State Food Safety and Consumer Protection Service's press office.
As reported, lab tests have confirmed pigs from farms located in the villages of Mariyanivka (Vinnytsia region) and Kozyrka (Mykolaiv region) were infected, the regulator said.
However, the State Food Safety and Consumer Protection Service does not specify the number of infected animals.
Measures to contain and prevent the spread of the ASF pathogen are being taken.
As UNIAN reported earlier, 62 ASF cases have been reported in Ukraine since the beginning of 2017. In total, 200 ASF outbreaks had been registered in 23 Ukrainian regions since 2012, as of March 10, 2017.
Based on the said results of 2017, veterinary experts forecasts that the total number of outbreaks in 2017 may grow to 200-250 cases against 91 outbreaks in 2016.
Read alsoUkraine sees pork prices rise by 15% in FebAccording to the head of the State Food Safety and Consumer Protection Service, Volodymyr Lapa, pig breeding losses due to the virus spread have amounted to about UAH 200 million since the first ASF outbreak was reported in Ukraine. If the current trend of the ASF spread continues, Ukraine will lose over 1.2 million pigs, or UAH 4 billion by 2020, while indirect losses will increase by UAH 5-7.5 billion.
UNIAN memo. African swine fever (Montgomery disease) is a contagious viral disease of domestic and wild pigs. The disease bears no threat to humans. The virus is transmitted by direct contact between sick and healthy animals, through pork products, and also transmitted by ticks and mechanically (by vehicles during transportation of people and animals). There are no vaccines against the virus. Almost all infected pigs die. The virus is destroyed by heating to extremely high temperatures.