Finland eases swine fever restrictions outside core outbreak zone

The Finnish Food Authority has eased restrictions aimed at containing African swine fever outside the outbreak’s core zone in Virolahti, Yle reports. Strict restrictions remain in force in the core area.

Under the new rules, forestry work and soil preparation are allowed, except for prescribed burning. Public and sporting events held outdoors may also take place if no more than 100 people attend.

Dog events with up to 100 participants are permitted if the dogs are kept on leashes. Motor vehicles may also be driven off-road.

Feeding pigs grain or other plants collected from the affected area is prohibited unless the material has been treated at a feed-sector facility using a method that destroys the African swine fever virus, or has been stored for at least 30 days.

The restrictions were changed because the disease has spread across a wide area. Since Friday, the infection zone has extended across three regions after dead wild boars were found near the eastern border in Virolahti and about 60 kilometres away in Pyhtää.

Finland’s first case was confirmed in Virolahti on July 30. The latest case was found in Pyhtää on Friday, less than a month after the first discovery. A total of 35 cases have now been confirmed, all in the Kymenlaakso region.

Terhi Laaksonen, director of the Finnish Food Authority’s animal health and welfare department, told Yle on Monday that strict restrictions would not be reasonable across such a large area. She said it was already clear that eradicating the disease would take a long time and would not be completed within the fastest possible period of one year. She could not yet estimate how long the process would take.

Carcass searches will begin in Pyhtää this week. The Finnish Food Authority has urged people to submit samples from dead or hunted wild boars throughout Finland to establish the extent of the disease as accurately as possible.

The government said on Monday that it would increase monitoring, sampling and authorities’ operational measures. It will also raise the reward paid for samples to 500 euros until the end of the year and assess the disease’s economic impact in the region.

African swine fever is a serious haemorrhagic fever affecting domestic pigs, wild boars and miniature pigs. It has no treatment or vaccine and is fatal to infected pigs. The disease does not infect humans or other animals, but the virus can be carried from one place to another, for example on footwear.