Wild boar as the most important reservoir and vector of transmission of the African swine fever virus; why do we have to restrict their population

Abstract

Basing on Polish experience of about 5 years (since the presence of the African swine fever (ASF) in this country, starting from February 17th, 2014) and in accordance with literature the importance of the disease in wild boar is charaterised. ASF belongs to the most dangerous, very contagious diseases occurring in domestic swine and wild boar in Eurasia. In Europe, including Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Poland, Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria, Czech Republic and Belgium ASF is existing at present and was diagnosed for short time in the frame of the Eurasian pandemy. There is a serious concern of spreading of the virus of ASF (ASFV) to other countries of Europe, not only by wild boar. However the reservoir of ASFV in this animal is playing a very important role in the maintenance of the virus and infection of pigs. Long lasting existence of ASFV in the environmnent is connected with the very high resistance to antiviral environmental factors. Following the lack of an effective immunogenic vaccine against ASF the disease can only be controlled by administrative measures. Additionally the important and recommended procedure is the significant reduction of the wild boar population. Probability of eradication of ASFV from wild boar is increased after adding quick carcass removal simultaneously by respecting biosecurity rules. If effectively implemented, fencing is more useful to delineating zones rather than adding substantially to increased efficiency of ASF control. However, segments of fencing will be particularly usefull in theses areas, where carcasses removal or intensive hunting is difficult to implement.