36 pigs culled due to African swine fever outbreak in Pleven

Some 36 animals have already been culled because of the new outbreak of African swine fever in Pleven, Agriculture Minister Desislava Taneva said on July 5.

We are considering a possible mechanism for compensating the farmers, whose animals were slaughtered, Taneva said.

African swine fever is a dangerous disease and can be transmitted very quickly via direct contact. There is no cure for it. There is no vaccine. Economic losses are enormous. The only positive thing is that it poses no risk to humans, but they can transmit the virus," Taneva said.

The African swine fever reached Europe in 2014 and the first cases in Bulgaria were reported in 2018. There are more than 1,100 outbreaks of the disease In neighbouring Romania and more than 250,000 pigs were culled, which has led to huge economic losses for farms.

"The only way to protect our industrial and family pig farming is to be strict in the implementation of prevention," Taneva said.

Next Monday, district governors from Northern Bulgaria, experts from the food safety agency and forestry directors will attend a meeting in the Ministry of Agriculture to discuss measures for dealing with the disease.