No case of African swine fever has been reported in Moldova so far, but the authorities warn about the risk of this highly contagious disease, which was recently detected in Ukraine. According to the director general of the National Food Safety Agency Gheorghe Gaberi, the coordination between the competent institutions and animal care workers can reduce the risk of this disease, IPN reports.

“Given the economic losses that the districts of Causeni and Stefan Voda can sustain because they are situated very close to the hotbed identified in Ukraine, the Agency decided to warn about this danger. Our conviction is that if all the relevant institutions, namely the police, the customs and the local mayor’s offices as well as the meat producers are very well informed, the risk of the spread of this disease on Moldova’s territory will diminish,” stated Gheorghe Gaberi.

The Agency’s vice director general Vsevolod Stamatin said the African swine fever affects domestic pigs regardless of race, age and sex as well as the wild boars. This virus is much more resistant in the environment than the classical swine fever. The disease is transmitted by food remains resulting from sanitation in international ports, airports and hotels, by infected food, by the clothes and footwear of animal care workers, vets, traders and other visitors. The incubation period is 5-15 days, but can also be of several weeks.

“There is no specific treatment for this disease. There is no efficient vaccine. Consequently, all the infected animals must be killed and burned,” he said, adding that the factors influencing the spread of the disease include the migrant populations of wild boards, , sale of products at improvised markets, lack of information intended for economic operators, farmers and care workers, and inefficient waste collection and flaying systems.

According to Vsevolod Stamatin, the National Food Safety Agency staged two zonal training seminars intended for business entities, vets and other involved persons. These were informed about the risk of the African swine fever by Spanish experts. A meeting of specialists from Romanian, Ukraine and Moldova, which will center on possibilities of avoiding transfrontier transmission, will be held on June 17-18.

The farms and peasant farmsteads of Moldova breed over 700,000 pigs. In forests, there are an estimated 2,500 wild boars that migrate and can spread the disease.