"The worst animal pandemic in history, the deadly African swine fever, has just entered Spain. The prime suspect is a hypothetical sandwich made with imported sausage contaminated with the virus, thrown in a trash can, and devoured by wild boars that feed on human garbage in the Collserola Natural Park area in Barcelona. For the moment, only nine cases have been confirmed in wild animals, but the Spanish pig farming sector is understandably on edge."
"And veterinarian Jose Angel Barasona has a warning: there is no vaccine, nor will one be available in the near future. Authorities and farmers will have to resort to medieval measures in the face of a plague: isolating the sick and disposing of their carcasses. Barasona, 39, hurries through the high-security laboratory of the Veterinary Health Surveillance Center (Visavet) at the Complutense University of Madrid."
African swine fever has been detected in Spain, likely introduced when contaminated imported sausage was discarded and eaten by wild boars in the Collserola Natural Park. Nine cases have been confirmed in wild animals so far, raising alarm across Spain’s extensive pig sector. No vaccine exists and none is expected soon, forcing authorities to rely on isolating infected animals and disposing of carcasses. High-security laboratories store virus samples for study. Prior outbreaks devastated China’s pig population and economy. An EU-funded consortium pursued a vaccine, producing a candidate prototype but no definitive solution.
Read at english.elpais.com
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