Pig cull undertaken because of African swine fever outbreak

Culling of pigs will be undertaken in the villages of Zhernov near Nikopol (Northern Bulgaria), where on July 3, vets found a new outbreak of African fever. They says the pig cull will include the animals from 4 villages within the 3 km zone around the swine fever virus outbreak.

The cull began in the morning on July 4 from the domestic yard where the samples for the infection were taken and were positive. The disease is not dangerous for humans, experts said. The owner of the first animals which tests proved positive assisted the veterinary teams.

He explained that one pig died, then another and he called the vets and asked them to take samples. The results showed the pigs were infected with African swine fever.

The local vet said there was no information about other dead pigs. According to the farmers, it is possible the infection to have been spread from the large number of mosquitoes.

According to the Head of the Regional Directorate for Food Safety, Dr. Ivan Yordanov, the road of the ferry from Romania passes through the area and this may possibly be the path through which the virus was transferred, because there are many cases of African swine fever in Romania.

After the pig cull, the entire yard will be disinfected.

Over the next few days, mass examinations and taking of samples will begin in nine other settlements within a radius of 10 kilometers around the outbreak of the disease.