African swine fever

African swine fever is a contagious disease. It is characterized by fever, necrotic or inflammatory changes in the parenchymal organs. It is also characterized by hemorrhagic diathesis.

African swine fever: what is this disease

Its causative agent is a DNA-containing virus, which separated into an independent family. This virus is very resistant to low temperatures. It is also resistant to drying and rotting. The source of the infection are sick animals that have been carrying the virus for more than fifteen months. Most often, infection occurs through damaged mucous membranes, wounds on the skin, through meat, blood and so on. Sometimes the infection is carried by insects that have come into contact with the sick (dead) animal.

In natural conditions, the African plague affects both wild and domestic pigs. The virus can lurk long in the body and not make itself felt. In general, the incubation period lasts from five to ten days. Most often the disease is very fast. Its main forms: acute, supra-acute, chronic, subacute, latent. The most common of these forms is acute and super-sharp.

A very high temperature of the body of an animal is characteristic of a hyperactive flow. He has shortness of breath, death occurs within three days. African swine fever can cause death even without any clinical manifestations.
With an acute current, the temperature is also always increased. The condition of the animal becomes depressed: weakness, lack of appetite, drowsiness, paresis of limbs, vomiting is possible, as well as diarrhea with blood. The latter is not particularly frequent, since in most cases, animals suffer from constipation. In this case, you can observe spots of purple that are located on the snout, belly, neck, and crotch. African plague in acute form may be accompanied by bronchitis. Before death, the temperature drops below normal. In most cases, the animal dies while in a coma.
The subacute course of the disease differs little from the acute symptom. It's just slower. The African plague can last up to twenty days in this case. The result is death.

In the chronic course of the disease is not so often. Some animals survive. Symptoms: delayed development, lag in growth, exhaustion of the body, arthritis and so on.

Latent flow does not have any specific clinical manifestations.

African swine fever: treatment and prevention

There is no treatment so far. Measures of prevention can be different. Do not allow contaminated meat to spread. For this, there is veterinary supervision. Particular attention is paid to imported swine meat, which is imported from countries in which the outbreaks of this disease were once recorded.

When the pathogen is detected, all animals that belong to one or another household are placed in quarantine. In almost all cases, they are killed in a bloodless way. Bodies are burned - this is a mandatory rule. All farms that are in the neighborhood, must undergo verification.

When the infection spreads, all the pigs are cut out at a distance of ten kilometers square.

African swine fever in Russia

For the first time on the territory of our country, it was recorded in 1977. Many animals were killed that year, but the epidemic was stopped. The second time it hit our country in 2008. It should be noted that in recent years it can be observed quite often. African swine fever in the Krasnodar Territory, the Rostov Region, the Novokubansky District and other subjects of the Russian Federation dealt a big blow to the farm.