Azerbaijan, Baku / Trend corr. S.Babayeva / The presence of African Swine Fever in the Azerbaijani occupied territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, would not cause danger to Azerbaijan, Yolchu Khanvali, the press-secretary at the State Veterinary Service of the Azerbaijani Agriculture Ministry, reported.
According to Khanvali, there is a conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia therefore there is no risk of the spread of the virus to Azerbaijan.
"Azerbaijani frontier structures reinforced prevention measures at the borders with Armenia," Khanvali said.
"Nobody can guarantee that the virus will not spread to the country, but we have undertaken measures to prevent the spread," Khanvali added.
Azerbaijan imposed a ban on the purchase of pigs from Georgia on 7 June due to African Swine Fever.
African Swine Fever (ASF) is an expanding devastating viral disease currently threatening the pig industry worldwide. The virus is an icosahedral cytoplasmic deoxyribovirus (ICDV) of the Asfarviridae family. It is an arbovirus (transmitted by ticks) and it is the only arbovirus that contains DNA. Wild suids of Africa, mainly the warthog and the bush pig, are the original vertebrate hosts of ASF. Domestic pigs are infected by ticks (Ornithodoros moubata) or by direct contact with wild suids. Transstadial and transovarian infections occur in ticks. Recently, ASF caused high morbidity and mortality in domestic pigs in Nigeria and other West African countries previously known to be free of the disease. No protective vaccination has been discovered; hence, a slaughter policy with adequate compensation, strict quarantine of pigs and their products at borders are necessary to stop the current outbreaks of ASF in Africa, particularly in West Africa.