German officials stated that the first case of African Swine Fever (ASF) was detected in a district on the Polish border. If the disease were to spread into the agricultural swine sector this could have a harmful impact on exports as China currently buys large quantities of pork from Germany.

The Agriculture Ministry confirmed on the 10th of September that the corpse of a wild boar found in Brandenburg was infected with African swine fever, making it the first known case in Germany. The discovery is likely to result in the district on the Polish border where the animal was found being classified as an “exclusion zone”, meaning all pigs and pork products in the district will no longer be allowed to leave. Swine fever is not dangerous to humans as it is not a zoonosis, a disease which can be transmitted from animals to the human population. But it is highly infectious and fatal for boars and domesticated pigs. It first arrived in Europe in 2007 and has been spreading slowly through the east of the continent ever since. There is currently no effective vaccine against the disease yet. If the disease were to spread into the agricultural swine sector this could have a harmful impact on exports, as China, the largest pork market in the world, currently buys large quantities of pork from Germany. China stops importing pork from countries that are no longer classified as “disease free.” For Germany, the spread of the disease through wild boar poses a particular problem due to the size of the country’s boar population. Authorities in Brandenburg and Saxony have put up electric fences on the border to Poland in order to try and prevent the virus from spreading into Germany.