AFRICAN SWINE FEVER AND THE RUSSIAN ANGLE.

African Swine Fever appears to be a never-ending story for Russia’s pig industry, as the virus has been observed to be very persistent and difficult to eradicate. Regional inspectors have noted that the disease often returns to regions where it occurred several years ago, in regions where ASF seems to be already defeated. On 15 June 15 2015, for instance, one ASF outbreak was detected at small farms in the Vladimir region, where the virus had not been detected since 2013. Wild boars has been fingered as source of the outbreak after a short investigation. There are other school of thought concerning the outbreak,acts of biological terrorism is been suggested and thus various law enforcement agents are to look into the situation and curb any such practice,also surveillance by agricultural officers,extension agents and field officers will help curb/prevent any of such practice. The recurring outbreaks in certain areas has also been linked to the way the affected animals are disposed. Hot beds as the burial sites are referred to these came into existence when the first wave of ASF took place in Russia. The authorities decided to introduce criminal liability for officials and in some cases for farmers in case ASF had penetrated their farm. With this step, the government agencies expected farmers to behave more responsibly; the opposite appears to have happened. The response of farmers to cases also contribute to recurring nature because upon the discovery of heavy pig mortality on-farm, most choose not to report the possible ASF outbreak out of fear of criminal liability . The farmers instead culled all pigs, take the infected corpses to nearby forests and have them buried there. It is believed there could be thousands of these so-called 'hotbeds' across the various regions of Russia. Due to the virus' high virulence, these places continue to infect wild boars, despite the efforts of authorities, reporting on the discovery of burial places each month.