Analysis of the strategy developed for control of the disease African swine fever (ASF) in Bulgaria by reducing the wild boar population

Abstract

All applicable control and eradication measures for African swine fever (ASF) shall be based on classical methods of disease control, including surveillance, epidemiological surveillance, monitoring of pigs and their destruction on infected holdings. In this paper we aim to analyze how the Strategy for combating ASF in Bulgaria should be applied to control the spread of ASF, as well as to what extent it identifies and characterizes the existing and potential risks and their sources. To evaluate the proposed strategy, we used a comparative method, based on which we compared to what extent the main risk factors for the spread of the disease from the EFSA scientific assessment of the risk of ASF spread in Southeast Europe and the requirements of the OIE Terrestrial Animal Health Code were taken into account. We can summarize that the Strategy should be improved by taking into account the comments made and to prepare an operational plan.