The Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development announced a new outbreak of African Swine Fever (ASF) on a farm in Gauteng province
The infected farm along with farms in the north west and free state provinces have been placed under precautionary quarantine. Moreover, Provincial Veterinary Services have called for investigations to identify any properties that could have had direct or indirect contact with the affected farm.
The source of the infection on the positive farm has not yet been identified, but it is believed that the infection was already on the farm from mid-December 2022. Outbreaks of African Swine Fever (ASF) started in the previous ASF free areas of South Africa in 2019 and these outbreaks eventually affected many areas of the country.
Control measures are based on quarantine and movement controls, with awareness drives to highlight essential biosecurity measures to enable pig owners to prevent infection of their pigs. Although the spread of the disease seems to have significantly slowed down in the past year, this particular outbreak of ASF on a farm with supposedly good biosecurity measures in place, again illustrates that the virus is highly contagious.
Pig owners are therefore urged to only buy pigs directly from known, healthy herds.
