ASF Croatia: Virus hops across border to infect 23rd country in Europe

Outbreaks were found on 2 farms on June 23^rd in the northeast of Croatia. It is probably no coincidence that this happened so shortly after its emergence in Bosnia-Herzegovina. As the crow flies, the new outbreaks are roughly 25 km away from the Bosnian town of Bijeljina, where the virus emerged 1 day earlier. The Croatian Veterinary Institute in Zagreb confirmed the virus’ presence in Croatia on June 26.

48 pigs victim of ASF virus

The virus emerged on 2 farm sites around the village Posavski Podgajci, near Drenovci in Vukovarsko-Srijemska county, which is located less than 1km from the border with Bosnia-Herzegovina. The largest of the 2 had 40 pigs, of which 1 animal was tested positive and died. The entire herd was culled.

The smaller farm had 8 animals on-site, of which all tested positive for ASF virus. In total 3 animals had already died of the virus.

23^rd country

Croatia is country number 23 in Europe to report ASF virus within its borders ever since genotype II entered Europe in 2007 in the Caucasian mountains. Neighbouring Serbia has been reporting outbreaks of ASF virus since August 2019. Other countries in southeastern Europe have reported ASF virus over the past years as well, including Romania, Bulgaria and Greece – in differing levels of severity and occurrence.