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African Swine Fever (ASF) has been detected on two farms in the Segezha region (Karelian: Sege?a) in the Republic of Karelia. The place is located east of Nurmes, some 160 km from the Finnish border. So far there is no knowledge of how many pigs have caught the disease or where it stems from.
The first case of ASF in the neighbouring areas of Finland was detected near St. Petersburg in autumn 2009. In addition, disease outbreaks were detected in 2011 in the area of the Leningrad Oblast in January, in the vicinity of St. Petersburg in March, and in the areas of both Murmansk and Archangel in April.
The disease has never been found in Finland. The Finnish Food Safety Authority Evira will examine both domestic pigs and wild boars for ASF. If farmers suspect that pigs on their farm show signs of African Swine Fever or any other serious contagious animal disease, they are obliged to immediately contact their municipal veterinarian for further investigation of the situation. If a wild boar is found sick or dead in nature, this should also be reported to the municipal veterinarian in order to have the animal examined at Evira.
Friday March 2, 2012/ Evira/ Finland.
http://www.evira.fi
