An outbreak of African swine fever (ASF) has been detected in domestic pigs on the Lelles farm in Matisi Parish, Valmiera Municipality, LETA was told at the Food and Veterinary Service.
To prevent the highly contagious disease from spreading, all 527 pigs on the farm will be slaughtered.
This is the first ASF outbreak in domestic pigs reported in Latvia this year.
The Food and Veterinary Service is carrying out infection eradication and containment measures and an epidemiological investigation on the Lelles farm.
As reported, the first ASF case in Latvia was recorded in June 2014 when three dead wild boars found near the Belarusian border tested positive for the virus.
African swine fever is an extremely dangerous and contagious virus infection affecting pigs. If an infected pig is found in a farm, all pigs in the particular farm have to be culled, which means big losses for farmers.
Source: BNS
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