Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Victoria Abramchenko instructed the Ministry of Education and Science, together with the Russian Academy of Sciences, to develop and introduce a vaccine against African swine fever (ASF) by 2024.
“They expect a breakthrough from science, without the creation of an effective vaccine it is impossible to cope with ASF and to protect the country from the risks of contamination of territories and a decrease in production,” the press service of the government quoted Abramchenko as saying at a meeting of the antiepizootic commission on November 12.
The Deputy Prime Minister also instructed to create a system for responding to the risks of ASF spread at all levels and develop measures for constant veterinary control without warning enterprises. The Ministry of Agriculture, Rosselkhoznadzor and other departments were instructed, together with the regions, to analyze the sufficiency of regulatory regulation and prepare proposals for adjusting regulatory legal acts, including the introduction of mandatory requirements for the protection of the perimeter of livestock farms and the introduction of information control systems.
African swine fever is a highly dangerous contagious viral disease of pigs and wild boars. As a rule, the death of animals occurs 5-10 days after the onset of the disease, and the surviving animals remain carriers of the virus for life. For humans, ASF does not pose a danger, but it causes serious damage to agriculture, as it spreads quickly, causes the death of up to 100% of pigs, and is not amenable to treatment and vaccine prevention. The only measure to combat the disease is strict quarantine. All pigs in the epizootic focus are killed by a bloodless method, and the carcasses are burned.
According to Abramchenko, this year, ASF foci were recorded in 38 regions of the country, the total damage to Russian agricultural enterprises from the disease at the end of the year has already reached 1.9 billion rubles. The Deputy Prime Minister called the epidemiological situation with ASF “extremely unfavorable” and linked it to a gross violation of veterinary rules at agricultural enterprises.
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