Italy culls tens of thousands of pigs to contain African swine fever

Outbreaks in the Lombardy 'pork belt' were extinguished, say experts, but wild boar could act as a reservoirHuge pig culls took place last week in Italy in an attempt to contain the country's largest outbreak of African swine fever (ASF) virus since the 1960s, which threatened the entire pig-farming sector.ASF is deadly to pigs and poses a serious threat to the global pig industry but is not a danger to humans, according to the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH). Continue reading...