ASF in Italy: Ongoing workprocess about prevention and eradication measures

by  Francesco Feliziani

Italian Reference Laboratory for Swine Fevers

Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale dell’Umbria e delle Marche – Perugia Italy 

African Swine Fever (ASF) is a viral disease that currently represents the greatest global threat to the pig industry. Once confined to the African continent, the infection is now present worldwide, but in Europe the situation is particularly worrying. In fact, the simultaneous presence of ASF in both wild boar and domestic pigs has created the basis for the transformation of the epidemic wave (began in 2007 in the Caucasus) into an endemic situation that now characterises a wide swath of territory from the north (Baltic Republics), to the centre (Poland and Germany) and the south too (Romania, Bulgaria, Balkan Region).

 Italy is fully involved in this epidemiological dynamic and has to fight on two separate fronts; the first one concerns the Sardinia Region where ASF has been present since 1978. Here the infection has long been underestimated (at least until 2005), but recently has been applied a major collective effort to achieve eradication. The results are really evident: the disease is completely eradicated in the domestic sector and currently confined to wild animals with a minimal (serological) incidence in a limited area.