The latest report concerns the outcome of a mission on classical swine fever (CSF), which the FVO carried out in Hungary to follow up on a CSF mission from 2008. The objective of the mission was to review and evaluate the measures taken by the Hungarian competent authority (CA) in relation to CSF. In particular, attention was paid to action taken by the CA to control CSF outbreaks in feral pigs.

Although progress has been made in the eradication of CSF in wild boars, a certain level of uncertainty remains as to the likelihood of virus circulation within the wild boar population in Hungary. That cannot be definitively excluded at this stage due to the relevance of some epidemiological indicators, such as serological positiveness in a few young animals of ages far beyond the expected threshold of maternal immunity, whose origin cannot be unequivocally ascertained. A reasonable period of time, including at least the current hunting year, will be needed for both the adequate age-targeting of sero-surveillance in the young populations of wild boars and the ongoing virological investigation efforts, to produce the robust epidemiological data that should allow the CA to further elucidate whether the CSF virus is circulating or not in the wild boar population in Hungary.

Should an outbreak occur in domestic pigs, the data available would not allow all holdings and animals within the infected zone to be identified quickly. The fact that movement of animals is sometimes not documented and tracing of contact animals may be difficult if not impossible would hamper the application of control measures.

The report includes recommendations to the CAs addressing areas in which further improvements are required.

Further Reading

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You can view the full report and responses from the Hungarian authorities by clicking here.

Further Reading

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Find out more information on swine fevers by clicking here.