Pig

Today will be the announced official results of the National Reference Laboratory in Sofia for the wild pigs that were shot in the Plovdiv Forestry area. A private laboratory has already confirmed the presence of African swine fever. This is the first case in southern Bulgaria.

The euthanasia of pigs in Vidin has started, there is no need to declare a state of emergency over the African swine fever outbreak, Tsvetan Asenov, Deputy Mayor of Vidin Municipality, told Focus Radio after a "backyard" pig tested positive for African swine fever last week.

The Regional Food Safety Directorate in Vidin received a signal of a a pig with African swine fever in a private property. The necessary samples have been taken and the results are now expected.

The euthanasia of the pigs in two of the pigs complexes in Russe continues. Two thirds of the animals were killed in the village of Nikolovo, and in the village of Brushlen half.

Culling the pigs infected with African swine fever is the only way to contain the situation in Bulgaria, said Health and Food Safety Commissioner Vytenis Andriukaitis.

Greece has banned imports of pork from its northern Balkan neighbor Bulgaria due to outbreaks of African swine fever, Bulgarian Agriculture Minister Desislava Taneva said on Friday.

Some 17,000 pigs will be culled in an industrial farm in the village of Nikolovo, near Bulgaria's Rousse. An outbreak of African swine fever was found there on Saturday, reports BNT.

The culled animals will be buried in the region of the farm. Incoming and outgoing people and vehicles are subject to disinfection.

Bulgarian Food Safety Agency on Saturday confirmed the first outbreak of African swine fever in an industrial farm in the country.

A total of about 17,000 pigs are fattened in the farm, which is located in the village of Nikolovo near Danube River in Ruse Region, the agency said in a statement.

African swine fever is spreading, the transmission of the virus among feral and domestic pigs is very dangerous, Dr. Georgi Chobanov, Director of Animal Health and Welfare, and Feed Control, told Focus Radio in reference to the new outbreaks of the disease.

We must implement preventive measures very strictly, if we want to protect the country from an African swine fever epidemic, Minister of Agriculture, Food and Forestry Desislava Taneva told journalists in the parliament, in reference to the outbreak in Pleven, FOCUS News Agency reports.

Bulgaria has confirmed a new case of African swine fever in a wild boar near in the northeastern town of Devnya, the national food safety authority said on Wednesday.

African swine fever is a highly contagious disease that affects pigs and wild boar. It does not affect humans.