African swine fever (ASF) is a devastating haemorrhagic viral disease affecting domestic pigs and wild boars of all ages and sexes. This disease causes major economic losses, threatens food security and trade, and presents a serious challenge to sustained pig production in affected countries. Since the emergence of ASF in Georgia in 2007, the disease has spread to many countries in Europe and in 2018 it was detected in China which has the highest domestic pig inventories. By August 2019, ASF had spread within and beyond China to Mongolia, Viet Nam, Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar. Wherever wild boar populations are affected, the control and eradication of ASF is a challenging task for veterinary authorities given the transboundary and multi-sectoral nature of ASF and the complexity of the wild boar-domestic pig interface. The lack of experience in managing wild, susceptible populations exacerbates the risk of the endemic persistence of the virus in wild boars, making the eradication process in domestic pig populations more challenging. This publication provides an overview of the epidemiological features and ecology of ASF and offers some recent experiences in the prevention and control of the disease in wild boars in Europe.

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