HAMBURG (Reuters) – Another six cases of African swine fever (ASF) have been confirmed in wild boars in the eastern German state of Brandenburg, Germany’s federal agriculture ministry said on Friday.
The new cases follow six others confirmed in wild boars, not farm animals, in the past week and bring total confirmed cases to 13, the ministry said.
Germany’s Friedrich-Loeffler scientific institute confirmed the latest cases of ASF, the ministry said.
China and a series of other pork buyers have banned imports of German pork in past days after the first case was confirmed.
The disease is not dangerous to humans but it is fatal to pigs and a massive outbreak in China, the world’s biggest pork producer, led to hundreds of millions of pigs being culled.
The ministry had warned on Thursday that more cases in wild boar are to be expected from the affected area in Brandenburg as the animals move in groups and the disease is highly infectious.
(Reporting by Michael Hogan; Editing by Toby Chopra and David Evans)
