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The number of farms infected with African swine fever in Poland has increased rapidly in recent weeks. 16 farm locations are currently confirmed to be infected. The developments come at a time when the number of infected wild boars is increasing in western Poland and Germany, which is unusual for the summer months.
It is a common pattern that Polish farms report the occurrence of ASF predominantly in summer – this was also the case in previous years. In the first 5 months of the year only 2 farms found African swine fever on their property, but since June 19th that number has increased by 14. Most of the incidents seem related and have occurred across Poland. Almost all operating locations are relatively small, only one location has more than 1,000 pigs at the location. This farm in the Nowy Tomysl District in Greater Poland Province had 1,911 pigs on site.
The number of wild boars infected with ASF has recently increased in western Poland, which is unusual for the summer months. – Photo: Jan Vullings
3 backyard farms near Germany
Of the 14 new farms, 3 were backyard farms in relative proximity to Germany (
Since the virus was confirmed in Poland in 2014, a total of 356 farms have reported the occurrence of the virus. The year 2020 was the most intense year so far with 103 infected farms.
The number of wild boars in western Poland is increasing
ASF occurs in wild boars in both eastern and western Poland. When zooming in on the cluster in the west, near the border with Germany, it can be observed that the number of outbreaks has increased in recent weeks. As the map below shows, the total confirmed number of infected wild boars has grown to 5,141 since the virus was discovered in western Poland in November 2019.
This pattern is rather atypical, as the number of infected wild boars usually falls in the summer months and would peak in winter. In April 2021, however, the number of infected carcasses was 282 – in May it rose again to 303. In the same months last year, the number of cases fell from 295 to 107.
illustration 1 shows that a similar development seems to be taking place on the other side of the border, as Germany reported a higher number of ASF-infected wild boars in June 2021 than in May 2021 – there the number rose from 113 (May) to 171 (June) . ). Core zones are therefore being further expanded, particularly around Frankfurt an der Oder.
The total number of infected wild boars in eastern Germany is now 1,429.
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