They are 53 carcasses of wild boar positive to swine fever, ascertained by the Zooprophylactic Institute of Piedmont, Liguria and Valle d'Aosta, from the 27 December 2021 to the 6 March 2022. In these two and a half months, the body collected 241 samples in Piedmont and 110 in Liguria: the sick animals were all concentrated between the provinces of Genoa and Alessandria. Specifically, the majority of cases were recorded in the Genoese area in Isola del Cantone and Mignanego (5), Ronco Scrivia and Rossiglione (4). In the Alessandria area the leaders were concentrated in Arquata Scrivia (5) and Ovada (4). Numbers provided in Turin, on the occasion of the visit of the undersecretary of the Ministry of Health Andrea Costa to the institute.
In these days the director of the Zooprophylactic Angelo ferrari was appointed extraordinary commissioner for swine fever. To contain the epidemic by this summer, according to initial information, they will be raised 116 kilometers of wild boar barriers along the "red zone" highways between Liguria and Piedmont. The fear is that the virus, without any risk to humans, will spread to domestic pigs. An enormous damage for a supply chain that in our region is worth over a billion euros, with one million and 300 thousand pigs. Hence the decision of the Regional Agriculture Department to provide for a plan for the slaughter of about 50 wild boars throughout Piedmont.
“The issue of fencing - explained Ferrari - must be addressed with the local communities, verifying where the epidemic is concentrated. At first it will be necessary to intervene quickly on Arquata, Ronco and Ovada: on Thursday in Alessandria I will meet with the Crisis Unit to verify the positioning of these barriers ". “One aspect on which we have already worked - added the extraordinary commissioner - with Autostrade is raise the networks along all the highways at risk between Piedmont and Liguria. It is then necessary to close the open passages in the barrier between Novi and Tortona, to prevent the sick boars from moving and infecting the healthy ones and vice versa.
Then we will start with the killing ". "We must avoid - added Undersecretary Costa - that the epidemic spreads, to protect an important production sector of the country. We have been arriving for two difficult and complicated years, and now the areas affected by swine fever are facing a new emergency ". "From the government I can ensure maximum support" concluded Costa. The first case of African swine fever was found on 29 December 2021 in Ovada, following a sampling on a wild boar carcass. The positivity was ascertained on January 5 and January 12 was defined as an "infected" area comprising 114 municipalities and an "external buffer" area of ten kilometers (The voice of Genoa).