ASF Germany: Small farm infected, 8th in total

Brandenburg state authorities shared this news. Germany’s national reference lab of the Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut confirmed the find. All animals on the farm, located near the city Cottbus in the district Spree-Neisse, are culled.

5^th ASF case in Brandenburg state

For Brandenburg state, the detection marks the 5^th time the virus showed up in domestic pigs. The first time was in July 2021, when a backyard farm got infected. The last detection in Brandenburg state happened early July 2022; at that time a farm of 1,300 pigs got infected in the Uckermark district.

For Germany as a whole, the detection marks the 8^th discovery. The other 3 outbreaks appear to have been one-off infections in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Baden-Württemberg and Lower Saxony.

As a consequence, the ministry of Brandenburg is once again calling on pig farmers to comply with all prescribed biosecurity measures. That call applies especially to small-scale farms, like the one that has now been found to be infected.

Surge of ASF outbreaks

Late February 2023, the Brandenburg state authorities already reported that there appears so be a surge of ASF outbreaks and infections around the eastern German city Cottbus were reported. Especially in the area where this farm is located. Virus pressure is coming from both the east and south. The ASF virus in Germany is clearly alive and well.

In September 2020, Brandenburg was the first German state where the virus was found in wild boar. Since then, it has been detected 3,007 times among wild boar. The map below shows the 8 outbreaks on farms in Germany in the last 3 years. The latest outbreak is only an approximate location.