Russia-African swine fever.

RUSSIA-AFRICAN SWINE FEVER.

Vets in south Russia’s Stavropol Territory have quarantined a district that has seen two outbreaks of swine fever in the past two weeks, the region’s chief vet said on Thursday.

On Wednesday, a total of 15 pigs died at a private farm in the village of Divnoye in the Apanasenkovsky District. In another village in the district, a major outbreak of swine fever was registered on March 15, and 189 pigs were culled to prevent the disease from spreading.

This is the second outbreak of African swine fever in the Stavropol Region this year. In January, the virus was confirmed at a farm in the Kursky District. As a result, 2,600 pigs were slaughtered. Some 5,000 pigs were also culled or died from the virus last summer in Russia’s North Ossetia.

The highly contagious virus was first registered in 1903 in South Africa. It does not pose a threat to humans.