What is African swine fever and why is it so contagious?

Senasa declared a health alert throughout Argentina. The viral disease is highly lethal and affects pigs but not humans.

African swine fever (ASF) is a contagious viral disease affecting domestic and wild pigs. The disease causes up to 100% mortality in pigs, leading to severe economic losses.

As regards the danger of contagion for people, African swine fever does not represent any risk to human health, neither by direct contact with infected animals, nor through the consumption of any pork product, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).

The National Agrifood Health and Quality Service (Senasa) today declared a health alert throughout Argentina due to the threat of a potential spread of the disease. The decision was taken due to "the presence of African Swine Fever Virus (ASFV) infection in domestic pigs in the Dominican Republic and Haiti, and its potential spread throughout the Americas," according to Resolution 564/2021 published today in the Official Gazette.

African swine fever is an exotic, infectious, highly pathogenic, transboundary, hemorrhagic disease that affects domestic and wild pigs, with a high rate of contagion.

This disease is highly transmissible because the virus that causes it has the capacity to remain viable in organic matter for long periods (blood, non-thermally processed meat food, carcasses, etc.). It is a highly lethal virus and there is no effective vaccine to contain the disease.

In this sense, it is important to point out that it causes high mortality in domestic and wild pigs, but it is not transmitted to humans. In addition, "it generates important direct and indirect losses in the whole production system and constitutes a barrier to international trade", warned Senasa.

To prevent the entry of ASF virus into Argentina, Senasa recommends the following:

-The disease affects domestic and wild pigs; there is no vaccine against it; the virus is highly resistant to the environment (even more so in meat products).

-It does not represent a danger to human health, nor does it affect the condition of contaminated food products.

-It can cause severe economic losses to the country due to its high lethality for pigs.

-It is forbidden to bring pork and pork products into the country without Senasa's authorization, as well as animals and reproductive material (semen and embryos) without the corresponding sanitary certification.

- If you have traveled to countries where the virus is present (Haiti and Dominican Republic), avoid going to a farm in Argentina because objects, clothing and footwear can carry the virus.

The State health agency clarified that Argentina "is historically free of African Swine Fever", however between 2016 and 2020 the global distribution pattern of the virus reveals "a serious deterioration due to the spread of the disease, mainly in Europe and Asia, after the first occurrence in China, in 2018″.

The Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) had already warned on October 8 that the presence of African swine fever in the Americas puts food safety at risk and called for a regional effort to contain and eradicate it.

Nine South American countries, members of the Andean Community (CAN) and the Permanent Veterinary Committee of the Southern Cone (CVP), joined forces to prevent the entry of African swine fever into the region, they announced in a joint communiqué on Oct. 18. The decision was taken "in view of the reintroduction of this virus" in the continent.

The agreements in the joint declaration include Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru, countries that make up the CAN, and Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay, which make up the CVP. The organizations agreed to work in a coordinated manner to reinforce sanitary barriers, mainly at ports and airports, as well as to improve the control of passenger baggage coming from affected areas worldwide and the control of goods received by mail.

In Latin America, the disease had last been detected in Cuba in 1971 and 1980, in Brazil and the Dominican Republic in 1978 and in Haiti in 1979. However, cases were confirmed in the Dominican Republic last July and in Haiti in September. The two countries share the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean Sea.