Editorial: African Swine Fever

The African swine fever (ASF) virus’ third and deadliest tour outside Africa began in 2007, on a ship from the east coast of Africa bound for the port of Poti in Georgia. Once again, contamination of local pigs with food residues from the ship produced the first outbreak, which quickly spread among the pig and wild boar population from South to North and from East to West. ASF is currently present in four continents, affecting more than 50 countries, and causing millions of dead pigs.

More than seven different epidemiological scenarios are observed with different risk factors involved in each of them. This epidemiological situation has greatly changed the international pig market. The enormous losses of pig population affected Asia and mainly China (which represented 50% of the world pig population), in particular in its backyard and family population (50% of total Chinese production) which has been the worst affected by ASF. Due to this situation, China does not currently produce the necessary number of pigs to meet the country’s needs, a situation that will continue for a while. This demand for pig meet has been supplied to date with important exports from the EU, USA, and Canada, and, to a lesser extent, Latin America (Brazil, Chile, and Mexico). The recent infection of ASF in Germany and of Brazil with classical swine fever (CSF) may change export flows and livestock movements, as well as the risk of ASF entry into other countries.