African Swine Fever: How to Keep Animals Healthy

In natural conditions, domestic and wild pigs of all ages are susceptible to African swine fever. Pigs become infected with the plague through contact with sick and recovered animals, through feed (especially food waste), water, care items, vehicles that have been in contact with sick animals, through the carcasses of fallen pigs and slaughter products of infected pigs, through people, animals, birds, flies, rats.

Owners of private subsidiary farms with a pig population must observe a set of rules, the observance of which will help maintain the health of animals and avoid economic losses:
- the territory of private subsidiary farms of citizens must be fenced to exclude possible contact of domestic animals with wild and stray animals;
- pigs must be kept only in closed premises; outdoor keeping of pigs is prohibited. Do not allow pigs to come into contact with other animals and unauthorized persons;
- equip disinfection barriers (disinfection mats) at the entrance to pigsties; use chlorine-containing preparations (bleaching powder, chloramine) and other disinfectants for disinfection;
- equip a place for washing and disinfecting hands, equipped with personal hygiene products;
- when visiting forests and participating in hunting, be sure to change clothes and shoes before entering the barn;
- use separatepet clothing and equipment for pig care and disinfect them after work is completed;
- treat pigs and their housing facilities once every 10 days against blood-sucking insects (mites, lice, fleas). Constantly combat rodents;
- use only factory-produced compound feeds for feeding pigs. It is strictly forbidden to use food waste, waste from slaughter of domestic and wild animals, and compound feeds of questionable quality purchased from private individuals in packaging without labels and appropriate markings for feeding pigs;
- feeding pigs with homemade feed should only be carried out after mandatory heat treatment (temperature not lower than 800C);
- in case of pig illness or sudden death, immediately contact the state veterinary service, and inform the rural council administration;
- do not carry out on-farm slaughter and sale of pork without pre-slaughter examination and veterinary-sanitary examination of meat and slaughter products by specialists of the state veterinary service;
- do not purchase live pigs and meat products at unauthorized trading places without veterinary accompanying documents, and do not import pigs and pig farming products from other regions without coordination with the state veterinary service;
- upon request of the veterinary service, provide the pig herd for veterinary examination and necessary treatments;
- do not dispose of animal carcasses, waste from their keeping and processing at landfills, roadsides, do not bury them in your garden or other land plot.
Do not attempt to process meat from pigs that have been culled without examination by a veterinary specialist. Remember that this is prohibited and can lead to the further spread of the disease.

Mortality, depending on the course of the disease, can reach from 50 to 100%. Animals that have recovered and survived become lifelong carriers of the virus.

Signs of African swine fever:
  • sharp increase in temperature to 41.5–42 degrees;
  • enlargement of regional lymph nodes;
  • loss of appetite, refusal of compound feed;
  • paresis, paralysis of the hind limbs;
  • digestive disorders (constipation, diarrhea with blood impurities);
  • anemia, cyanosis of mucous membranes;
  • difficult, shallow breathing, shortness of breath;
  • subcutaneous edema, bruises in the subcutaneous tissue;
-sizing: border-box;"/>  • sudden death of animals;
  • pneumonia.