REUTERS
Veterinary experts have reported a new case of African swine fever (ASF) in Ukraine recorded in Kirovohrad region, according to the State Food Safety and Consumer Protection Service's press office.
Lab tests have confirmed that pigs from a farm at military unit No. 2269 in Kirovohrad region's Oleksandriia district were infected, the regulator said.
However, the agency does not specify the number of infected animals.
Measures to contain and prevent the spread of the ASF pathogen are being taken.
According to open source data, 144 ASF cases have been reported in Ukraine since the beginning of 2017. In total, 292 ASF outbreaks had been registered in 24 Ukrainian regions since 2012, as of December 12, 2017.
As UNIAN reported earlier, Ukraine's veterinary experts reported 41 ASF cases in the second half of 2017 (H2), which was almost a third less than in H2 2016 and H1 2017.
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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.