Latvia

Latvia Confirms African Swine Fever on 20,000-Head Pig Farm

Tue, 02 Sep 2025 19:31:17 GMT

Baltic Pork Ltd., a 20,000-head farm in central Latvia has confirmed an outbreak of African swine fever (ASF). The farm is located in Laubere Parish, Ogre Municipality, the Food and Veterinary Service (FVS) reports to the Baltic News Network . The FVS is a state authority under the Ministry of Agriculture, responsible for national supervision and control of the food chain and the veterinary sector.

In order to prevent further spread of the disease, all pigs at the facility will be culled, FVS says. The agency is carrying out disease control and containment measures at the affected site, as well as an epidemiological investigation.

One of the major efforts has been setting up a quarantine zone around the infected farm. Within this area, FVS will step up inspections of pig health and compliance with biosecurity requirements, the article said. Pig and pig product movement have been restricted in the quarantine zone.

“The FVS stresses that the risk of ASF introduction into farms is currently particularly high – the virus is present in the environment and can easily be brought into facilities via footwear, clothing, equipment, or transport,” Baltic News Network reports. “Pig keepers are reminded that regardless of the size of the holding, the only way to protect pigs from infection is strict compliance with biosecurity rules.”

Baltic Pork board member Daiga Ļubka explained in the article that the outbreak is very serious and the impact and scale of losses isn’t known yet. They need time to determine the numbers and assess the situation.

Baltic Pork breeds crossbred pigs from Landrace, Yorkshire and Duroc lines, which are mainly sold on the Latvian market, the article said. The piglets raised by the company are also sold to grow-finish farms and some are exported.

Latvia has had eight ASF outbreaks in domestic pig farms this year.

• In May 2025, ASF was discovered in a backyard farm with 36 pigs in Džūkste Parish, Tukums Municipality.

• In early July, ASF was found in a smallholding with six pigs in Glūda Parish, Jelgava Municipality.

• At the end of July, an ASF outbreak was confirmed at a farm with 55 pigs in Rosme, Iecava Parish, Bauska Municipality.

• In mid-August Nygaard International Ltd., a farm with 4,900 pigs in Ģibuļi Parish, Talsi Municipality, confirmed ASF.

• In late August, ASF was confirmed in a household farm with 65 pigs in Babīte Parish, Mārupe Municipality; another with three pigs in Dāviņi Parish, Bauska Municipality; and in yet another smallholding with three pigs in Babīte Parish, Mārupe Municipality.

In 2024, ASF affected seven farms and 585 domestic pigs across Latvia. Ten years earlier, ASF was first confirmed in Latvia in June 2014, when three wild boars tested positive near the Belarusian border.

ASF is a deadly disease of swine, though it poses no human health or food safety risks. It is devastating to the global pork economy.

Latvia Confirms First Case of African Swine Fever in Domestic Pigs in 2024

Mon, 24 Jun 2024 14:50:47 GMT

African swine fever (ASF) has been detected in domestic pigs in Latvia for the first time this year. Latvia is located between Lithuania and Estonia on the Baltic Sea.

Its landscape, marked by wide beaches as well as dense, sprawling forests, has a high population of wild pigs. The virus has been circulating widely in its wild pig population, according to Pig World . In the first half of 2024, ASF was detected in 601 wild pigs were detected with ASF and that number is expected to rise rapidly. In 2023, more than 1,000 wild pigs were confirmed to have the ASF virus.

Pig World reports that the deadly virus of swine was detected in domestic pigs at a farm in Matīši parish, in Valmiera municipality. The disease was found in a small commercial operation with 527 pigs.

This is the first case of the disease detected in domestic pig holdings in Latvia this year, the Food and Veterinary Service (PVD) said.

The PVD is following through with eradication and containment measures as well as epidemiological investigations, the article said. All pigs on the farm will be slaughtered to eliminate the outbreak and prevent further spread of the disease.

A quarantine zone has also been established around the farm and other farms in the area will be subject to surveillance and compliance with biosecurity requirements. Restrictions on the movement of pigs and pig products have been imposed in the quarantine zone, the article said.

ASF is highly contagious among pigs but poses no food safety or health threats to humans. Learn more here.

Read More:

It’s Time to Talk About Depopulation in the U.S. Swine Industry

Two More Countries Confirm Outbreaks of Deadly African Swine Fever Virus

Tue, 11 Jan 2022 17:39:03 GMT

Two more countries reported outbreaks of the deadly African swine fever (ASF) virus to the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) this week.

Hungary discovered ASF in nine wild boars throughout the country in the past week, OIE said. Four of the boars were found dead and the others were killed, Reuters reports.

Meanwhile, Latvia confirmed 19 cases of ASF in wild boars from throughout the country in the past week. The OIE report showed that six boars were found dead, and the others were killed.

These two reports come less than a week after Italy announced an outbreak of this highly transmissible virus of pigs only in the region of Piedmont, in the northern region of the country.

In addition, authorities in Thailand were accused of covering up an outbreak of ASF this week. On Tuesday, Thai authorities confirmed ASF in a surface swab sample collected from a slaughterhouse , marking the country’s first official confirmation of the disease.

One sample had tested positive for ASF out of 309 collected, including blood samples from pigs at 10 farms and surface swabs at two slaughterhouses in swine-raising provinces, an authority from the Department of Livestock Development said in a Reuters article.

This followed an announcement days earlier after Kasetsart University said its laboratory had last month found the disease in a dead pet pig in Thailand.

ASF is a deadly disease of swine only – it poses no food safety or human health risks.

Learn more about ASF here.

More from Farm Journal’s PORK:

Thailand Detects African Swine Fever in Sample at Slaughterhouse

Thailand Rejects Allegations of African Swine Fever Cover-Up

Pet Pig’s Death Prompts African Swine Fever Probe in Thailand