South Africa reports new outbreaks of African swine fever

Six new outbreaks of African swine fever (ASF) have been reported in three of South Africa’s nine provinces to the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) in November this year. According to the Department of Agriculture’s latest ASF report, two outbreaks were reported in Gauteng (Rand West City area), two in the Western Cape (Cape Town), and two in the Eastern Cape (one in Stutterheim and one in Engcobo). These cases were confirmed by positive polymerase chain reaction tests on organ samples, sent to the Agricultural Research Council’s Onderstepoort Veterinary Research Transboundary Animal Disease laboratory. During this period, no new outbreaks were reported in KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga, Limpopo, North West, Free State or Northern Cape. This brings the total number of active outbreaks nationwide to 62 open cases. Limpopo is the only province with no active outbreaks outside the legislated ASF-controlled area. Active cases are present in the Western Cape (7), Eastern Cape ...