An epidemiological analysis revealed that African swine fever was brought to Moldova by private individuals at the end of August, when the patron saint day was celebrated in a number of villages in Donduseni district. According to the vice director of the National Food Safety Agency Vsevolod Stamati, the persons went to Moghilau town in the Ukrainian region Vinitsa, from where they brought infected meat products, IPN reports.
According to him, the meat was processed, while the remains were given to domestic pigs and these became infected. The disease appeared in 12-14 days, after the incubation period. “Of the ten pigs that were suspected of being infected with swine fever, eight died, while two were killed,” said Vsevolod Stamati.
Samples of pork were sent to a lab in Spain to see if the virus is still present. Meanwhile, a new case of infection was reported in Cernoleuca village of the same district, where one of the three pigs suspected of being infected died, while the other two were killed.
Minister of Agriculture and Food Industry Eduard Grama said the population must be broadly informed about the danger of infection with swine fever, especially because many Moldovans buy pork in Ukraine, where a large number of hotbeds were reported.
In the September 28 meeting, the Cabinet decided to temporarily ban the importation from Ukraine of animals sensitive to African swine fever (domestic pigs and wild boars), seminal material, pork, preparations, products and byproducts of animal origin coming from animals sensitive to the virus and of raw material for fodder.
