Organisms

An outbreak of African Swine Fever has been confirmed after a laboratory test of a dead wild boar in Arnautska Polyana area, the Municipality of Velingrad said on August 20. In order to prevent the spread of the disease, the Municipal Epizootic Commission has decided to suspend logging, to ban visits of tourists and to ban picking of mushrooms, herbs, and berries.

The Athens Medical Association (ISA) is urging the public to take all necessary precautions in view of the spread of West Nile virus.
In a statement Friday, ISA advised people to spray insect repellent on their skin and clothing, and to use mosquito nets, fans or air conditioners and yellow bug lights.

Olive oil is Greece's fourth most important export, with sales abroad totaling 524.5 million euros in 2018. However, Greece keeps losing market shares to its main competitors, Italy and Spain, as well as rising players in the international market, such as Tunisia. 

The number of deaths caused by West Nile virus in Greece so far this year has risen to six, according to the weekly report by the National Health Organization (EODY), which was published Wednesday.
The report said the number of cases of the mosquito-borne virus recorded since June was 49 - 14 in the last week alone. The six people who died were all over the age of 60.

The Bulgarian Food Safety Authority (BFSA) finds new cases of African swine fever in feral pigs. One of them is from a village 24 km away from Sofia.

It is about Zhelyava, which is located after the village of Yana and is next to the Hemus highway. Jelyava is part of the Kremikovtsi metropolitan municipality.

Serbia has reported four suspected outbreaks of African swine fever among backyard pigs, the Paris-based World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) said on Monday.
Three of the cases were detected in the Belgrade area and one in the district of Podunavski, the OIE said, citing a report from Serbia's agriculture ministry.

An unregulated ivory market, expansion of human settlements and issues of governance in many African countries are hitting the population of elephants.

The spread of African swine fever in Bulgaria, which threatens the Balkan country's pig breeding industry is worrying, an EU Commission spokeswoman said on Thursday, reports Euronews.

The government on Thursday introduced an amendment that will allow the Agriculture Ministry to hire an additional 50 veterinaries in order to speed up inspections at pig farms across the country for African swine fever.

They are all on the verge of extinction

Papal Catholic University biologists have discovered 11 species of amphibians in the Ecuadorian Andes that were previously unknown to science, according to UPI and BTA. They all belong to the rain frog family and are on the verge of extinction.