In a recent media release, South Africa's Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development announced a new outbreak of African swine fever (ASF) on a farm in Gauteng Province.

The farm has been put under quarantine and the Provincial Veterinary Services instituted forward and back-tracing investigations to identify any properties that could have had direct or indirect contact with the affected farm.

Farms in Gauteng, North West and Free State Provinces have been placed under precautionary quarantine as a result of this. The ASF negative status of these farms must first be confirmed before the precautionary quarantine can be lifted. 

The source of the infection on the positive farm has not yet been identified, but it is believed that the infection was already on the farm from mid-December.

Outbreaks of African Swine Fever (ASF) started in the previous ASF-free areas of South Africa in 2019 and these outbreaks eventually affected many areas of the country. The spread of the disease seems to have slowed down, with fewer new properties becoming infected since October 2022. Control measures are based on quarantine and movement controls, with awareness drives to highlight essential biosecurity measures to enable pig owners to prevent infection of their pigs.

This outbreak of ASF on a farm with good biosecurity measures in place again illustrates that the virus is highly contagious.