A further state in Germany reports boar died of African Swine Fever

German officials confirmed the first case of African Swine Fever (ASF) in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia on Saturday, adding to the list of states where the virus has been identified.

The Friedrich Loeffler Institute (FLI), Germany's animal health research institute, confirmed the presence of the virus in a dead wild boar found in the Sauerland region, the North Rhine-Westphalia agriculture ministry said.

A hunter found the carcass in the Olpe district.

The confirmation of the virus may have far-reaching consequences.

ASF is usually fatal to domestic pigs and wild boars, leading to death within a week in most cases. It cannot be passed to humans.

Harmless to humans, the disease has been spreading in Europe since 2014, with Eastern European countries being mostly affected, according to the German Agriculture Ministry.

In Germany, it was first detected in a dead wild boar in Brandenburg in 2020 and spread to other regions including Saxony, Hesse, Rhineland-Palatinate and Baden-Württemberg.

Several thousand cases have been confirmed in wild boars in those states since then, according to the German Hunting Association.

"The top priority is to prevent the local case of ASF from spreading among the wild boar population," said North Rhine-Westphalia's Agriculture Minister Silke Gorißen.

"I appeal to our farmers with pig farms to pay particular attention to the known biosecurity measures to protect domestic pig stocks from ASF, especially at this time," she said.